BANCROFT 
LIBRARY 


BRARY 


UNIVERSITY 
CALIFORNIA 


I 


HOMESTEADS 


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:«a DAKOTA  WHEAT  HELD 


NORTH  WESTERN  LINE 


TO 


'.RES 


IRRIGATED— NON-IRRIGATED  LAND 
PRAIRIE-TIMBER  LANDS 


Business 
Opportunities 


The  territory  along  the  North  Western  Line  is 
growing  at  a  rate  never  before  known. 

There  are  business  openings  by  the  score  in 
hundreds  of  thriving  towns  and  cities. 

The  Industrial  Department  of  the  Chi- 
cago &  North  Western  Ry.  has  recently 
made  a  systematic  canvass  of  conditions  in 
these  business  towns,  and  we  desire 
to    place    the  information  resulting 
therefrom  at  your  disposal  if  you 
are  looking  for  a  new  loca- 
tion   for   any    business    or 
profession. 

Manufacturing 

Manufacturers    who    contemplate    the 
establishment  of  new  business  or  manufacturing 
enterprises  in  the   west  should  write  us  for  in- 
formation about  the  advantages  offered  in  hun- 
dreds of  western  towns  and  cities,  where  there  is 
a  fine  water  power  and  an   abundance  of 
natural  resources — timber,  coal,  iron,  cop- 
per and  zinc,   building  stone,  material  for 
Portland    cement,    and  other    natural  re- 
sources— situated   practically  at  the    fac- 
tory door. 

A  happy  combination  of  nearby  markets,  ideal  labor  conditions 
and  unparalleled  natural  resources  has  made  the  world-wide  reputation 
of  the  manufacturing  towns  of  the 

Chicago  &  North  Western 
Railway 


FULL  INFORMATION  ON  REQUEST 

GEO.   BONNELL, 

Industrial  Aeent,   Chicago,  111. 


A  Typical  Western  Farmstead. 


THE    WONDERFUL    WEST 


So  great  in  extent,  so  rich  in  natural 
resources,  and  so  vigorous  and  healthful 
in  climate  is  the  region  which  lies  west  and 
northwest  of  Chicago  that  it  forces  itself 
to-day  upon  the  attention  of  all  who  seek 
to  better  their  condition. . 

It  is  the  land  were  opportunity  ranks 
supreme,  where  poverty  gives  way  to  pros- 
perity and  where  a  fair  degree  of  energy 
repays  a  man  generously. 

Great  advancement  has  been  made  in  this 
western  country  since  the  days  of  the 
frontier,  in  all  lines  of  agricultural,  com- 
mercial and  social  life. 

The  pioneer  of  twenty-five  years  ago 
finds  himself  to-day  surrounded  by  smiling 
acres  and  possessed  of  means  to  enjoy 
luxuries  which  a  generation  ago  were 
unknown. 

His  barns  are  overflowing,  his  crops  and 
live  stock  bring  prices  that  are  at  the  top 


of  the  market,  and  his  land  has  increased 
in  value  until  to-day  it  represents  to  the 
average  farmer  what  may  be  termed  a 
small  fortune. 

Universities,  colleges,  libraries,  public 
schools  and  churches  all  show  the  pros- 
perous condition  which  surrounds  them; 
and  the  achievements  which  have  been 
made  in  education,  science,  and  the  arts 
have  placed  the  northwestern  common- 
wealths in  a  position  high  in  the  world  of 
advancement. 

All  these  desirable  things  have  meant 
hard  work  and  patient  endurance  of  the 
life  of  the  pioneer ;  but  never  in  the  history 
of  the  world  has  such  endurance  and 
patience  shown  results  so  rich  and  certain. 

Nowhere  in  the  world  can  a  man  starting 
in  life,  and  with  little  or  no  money  in  his 
possession,  insure  so  completely  for  him- 
self a  competence  for  his  later  years, 


KOFO1D    GIFT    19£8 


The  Raising  Of  Hogs  Is  An 

and  an  assured  position   for    himself   and 
family. 

It  is  no  longer  necessary  for  a  man  to 
take  his  family  into  an  isolated  community, 
where  near  neighbors  are  unknown  and 
schools,  churches  and  the  conveniences  of 
life  are  lacking;  nor  is  it  necessary  for  him 
to  make  a  long  and  arduous  journey  to 
reach  his  new  home. 

The  North  Western  Line,  with  a  vast  net- 
work of  main  travel  arteries  and  their 
branches,  brings  practically  every  com- 
munity in  nine  northwestern  states — 
Illinois,  Wisconsin,  Michigan,  Minnesota, 
North  Dakota,  South  Dakota,  Iowa, 
Nebraska  and  Wyoming,  into  immediate 
touch  with  the  world. 


Important  Western  Industry. 

There  are  10,000  miles  of  railway  in  this 
comprehensive  system,  reaching  2,000 
cities,  towns  and  villages,  and  by  traffic 
arrangements  with  its  connecting  lines, 
bringing  practically  every  point  wesi  and 
northwest  of  Chicago  into  direct  touch  with 
that  city. 

Freight  shipments  are  handled  with  dis- 
patch, consigned  through  to  any  one  of 
9,500  stations,  located  on  62,000  miles  of 
railway.  This  is  about  one-eighth  of  the 
entire  railway  mileage  of  the  world  and 
one-fourth  of  the  railway  mileage  of  the 
United  States. 

The  simultaneous  growth  of  the  North- 
west and  of  the  lines  which  comprise  The 
North  Western  Line  is  due  to  the  coop- 
eration  of    the    railway 
and  its  patrons  by  which 
communities  have  risen 
to   a  prosperity    that    is 
participated    in   by   the 
patron    and    railway 
alike. 

It  is  to  the  oppor- 
tunities offered  in  such 
communities  as  this,  sit- 
uated on  the  Chicago  & 
North  Western  Railway, 
that  this  book  calls 
the  attention  of  the 
reader. 


An  Ideal  Sheep  Region. 


A  Northern  Wisconsin  Dairy  Herd. 


Northern  Wisconsin  and  the  Upper 
Peninsula  of  Michigan 


Through  all  the  years  of  the  nation's 
growth,  the  tide  of  immigration  has  swept . 
westward  to  the  Pacific,  sweeping  aside  the 
rich  and  fertile  district  of  the  north,  to  be 
left  for  later  development.  So  it  is  that 
to-day  northern  Wisconsin  and  the  Upper 
Peninsula  of  Michigan  offer  cheap  lands,  an 
ideal  climate  and  markets  directly  at  hand. 

The  dairying  and  farming  lands  which 
make  up  the  southern  portion  of  this 
region  are  to-day  the  seat  of  a  prosperous 
and  ideal  American  rural  life ;  while  further 
north  are  the  vast  forests  of  pine  and 
hardwood  which  have  made  the  two  states 
famous,  and  where  only  a  night's  ride  from 
Chicago,  millions  of  acres  are  offered  as 
homes  for  the  people,  at  prices  ranging 
from ^$7  to  $12  per  acre. 

There  are  two  distinct  kinds  of  land : 

i.  The  cutover  land  from  which  the 
timber  has  been  taken. 


2.     The  original  hardwood  forest. 

It  is  true  that  considerable  work  is 
necessary  in  order  to  clear  these  wooded 
lands  and  prepare  them  for  the  first  crop; 
but  it  is  also  true  that  in  the  process  of 
doing  so,  timber  products  are  secured  that 
will  practically  pay  for  the  work,  and 
advantages  are  found  that  are  surpassed 
nowhere  in  the  United  States. 

What  are  these  advantages? 

1.  The   means   of   building   a   shelter — 
a  home — are  ready  to  hand — an  axe  and  a 
pair  of  strong  hands. 

2.  The  soil  is  productive  of  every  crop 
known    to    the    temperate    region,    and    in 
bounteous  quantities. 

3.  The  climate,  year  in  and  year  out,  is 
the  best  for  health  and  strength  in  the  world. 

4.  Winter   employment   can   be   had   at 
good   wages    at    nearby   mills    and    lumber 
camps. 


A  Typical  Northern  Wisconsin  Lumber  Town. 


Through  the  heart  of  the  region,  Jthe 
various  trunk  lines  and  branches  of  The 
North  Western  Line  radiate,  with  close 
connection  between  the  settler  and  the 
hundreds  of  cities  and  towns  which  here 
find  raw  material  for  their  manufacturing 
interests.  Several  new  lines  have  been 
recently  opened  which  pass  directly  through 
splendid  timber  districts  that  are  being 
developed  into  farm  lands. 

Saw  mills,  planing  mills  and  pulp  wood 
manufacturers  furnish  a  market  for  hard- 
wood products  as  the  settler  clears  his 
land,  and  many  towns  and  cities  offer  a 
market  for  his  crops.  This  market  is  near 
at  home  and  affords  a  ready  sale  of  produce 
at  the  highest  prices,  as  well  as  means  of 
social  intercourse. 

The  question  of  home  building  on  these 
hardwood  lands  and  cutover  lands  is  totally 
different  from  the  home-making  proposition 
as  it  obtains  on  the  prairies. 

The  comparative  advantages  of  the  two 
will  always  be  an  open  question,  but,  for 
the  average  man,  with  a  family  to  support 
and  with  capital  that  is  but  meager,  there 
is  probably  more  security,  less  worry  and 
more  contentment  in  building  his  home 
in  the  timber  country. 

The  average  settler  placed  on  a  quarter- 
section  of  these  lands  will,  we  assume,  own 


his  own  team  of  horses  or  oxen,  one  or  two 
cows,  a  few  hogs  and  sheep,  and  the  usual 
number  of  barn  fowls.  He  comes  to  his 
new  home  with  enough  money  to  make 
his  first  payment  on  his  land  and  with  a 
few  dollars  left  to  assist  in  building.  He 
will  find  on  his  land  raw  material  for  his 
permanent  improvements,  and  may  thus 
establish  a  house,  barn,  etc.,  with  the  least 
possible  cash  outlay.  In  fact,  with  his 
own  labor,  a  man  can  build  a  log  house 
•here  with  an  actual  expenditure  of  from 
$5  to  $50  that  will  be  far  more  comfortable 
than  can  be  imagined  by  those  who  have 
not  tried  it.  Then  if  he  has  settled  on  a 
piece  of  cutover  land,  much  of  it  will  be 
easy  to  clear;  thirty  days  will  put  five 
acres  in  shape  for  crop,  and  thus  the  task 
of  farm-making  begins.  Five  or  ten  acres 
can  be  added  each  year  until  the  entire 
farm  is  under  cultivation. 

In  the  winter  the  farmer  may  seek 
employment  with  his  team  in  the  lumber 
camps,  barking  camps,  tanneries,  planing 
mills  and  stave-heading  mills,  where  he  will 
always  find  his  services  in  demand;  or  he 
may  cut  and  haul  ties  and  posts  from  his 
own  land. 

In  this  region  there  are  over  1,200  beau- 
tiful lakes,  and  innumerable  streams.  It 
is  the  natural  home  of  the  brook  trout 


As  Beautiful  Farming  Country  as  One  Can  Hope  to  See. 


the    black   bass,    muskallunge,    pike    and 
pickerel. 

Deer  are  abundant  in  the  forests,  fish 
are  plentiful  in  the  lakes  and  streams,  and 
the  region  is  a  natural  playground  for  all 
small  game.  For  the  settler,  this  adds  vast 
opportunities  for  delightful  days  of  recrea- 
tion in  the  woods  or  on  the  water,  and  for 
welcome  additions  to  the  housewife's  bill 
of  fare. 

CLIMATE 

The  annual  rainfall  is  about  36  inches 
and,  tempered  as  the  region  is  by  large 
bodies  of  water,  the  rainfall  is  remarkably 
regular,  producing  green  fields,  large  second 
crops  of  clover  and  grasses  and  abundance 
of  pasturage. 

During  the  winter  the  snow  protects  the 
ground  and  guards  the  soil  against  hard 
freezing.  The  danger  of  early  frost  rapidly 
disappears  with  the  clearing  of  large  areas 
and  the  resultant  warming  of  the  soil. 

With  the  approach  of  May  the  south 
winds  come  soft  and  odor-laden,  and  there 
sets  in  a  season  of  continual  delight,  with 
clear  beautiful  days,  weeks  and  months  of 
fine  weather.  The  wind  no  longer  chills, 
the  balmy  air  enwraps  one  like  a  mantle, 
the  sun  looks  warmly  down,  the  ozone- 
freighted  air  tingles  the  nostrils — it  is  a 
joy  to  live. 

As  soon  as  the  snow  is  off  the  ground  the 
arbutus  creeps  forth  and  the  graceful 
anemone  raises  its  head,  followed  closely 


by  the  blue  violet.  Along  the  low  wet 
reaches,  the  marsh-marigolds  appear  with 
the  earliest  birds.  Dandelions  and  butter- 
cups, white  and  red  clover  are  seen  every- 
where. The  woods  are  filled  with  the 
delicate  bluebell.  Old  roads  are  lined  with 
wild  roses,  while  the  fleur-de-lis  peeps  forth 
from  every  sedgy  nook.  This  growth  of 
timber  and  wildflowers  is  one  of  Nature's 
guaranties  of  the  fertility  of  the  soil. 

As  the  season  advances  the  earth  fairly 
bursts  with  life.  The  air  is  laden  with  the 
honey  fragrance  of  blooming  linden  and 
nodding  clover.  The  forest  resounds  with 
music  from  a  thousand  feathery  throats — 
for  every  song  bird  finds  here  a  summer 
home.  October  comes,  and  with  it  the 
frosts  of  the  autumn.  Gorgeous  are  the 
woods  in  their  dress  of  red  and  gold  and 
brown;  the  crimson  of  the  maple  and  the 
yellow  of  the  birch  blending  in  graceful 
harmony  with  the  clear  azure  of  the  sky. 

The  sun  sinks — the  season  lingers — the 
frosts  creep  slowly  on,  baffled  by  the  warm 
winds  from  the  lakes — a  gray  mist  gathers 
in  the  sky — a  wind  breathes  from  the  north 
— feathery  flakes  drift  down  through  the 
air — and  the  winter  is  at  hand,  a  winter 
of  exhilarating  cold,  of  snow  and  ice, 
fraught  with  a  thousand  varied  charms. 

The  climate  of  northern  Wisconsin  and 
Michigan  is  remarkable  for  the  following 
advantages : 


The  Oats  Yield  is  Always  Heavy. 

i  In  its  almost  entire  freedom  from 
spring  frosts  and  summer  droughts. 

2.  In  the  salubrity  and  dryness  of  the 
air. 

3.  In  the  uniformity  of  the  temperature 
of  its  winters. 

4.  In    its    absolute    freedom    from    all 
malarial  tendencies. 

THE  SOIL 

The  soil  ranges  from  a  light  sand  to  a 
heavy  red  clay,  the  greater  portion  of  it 
being  sandy  loam  and  clayey  loam,  fertile 
and  easily  worked.  One  of  the  peculiari- 
ties of  the  soil  is  that  wide  variance  is 
shown  within  limited  areas  and  a  single 
township  may  show  red  clay,  clayey  loam, 
sandy  loam  and  sand  and  swamp  soil. 

One  should  under  no  circumstances  buy 
land  without  first  examining  every  acre  of 
it,  for  this  peninsular  district  varies  in 
character  of  soil  to  such  a  degree  that  the 
character  of  any  given  quarter  section  is  no 
guarantee  of  the  character  of  its  neighbor. 

CROPS 

Everything  that  can  be  grown  in  the 
prairie  regions,  and  more,  can  be  grown 
here.  Wheat,  rye,  buckwheat  and  oats, 
when  sown  among  the  stumps  in  a  newly 


cleared  field,  reach  the  very  limit  of  yield. 
The  tame  grasses,  clover  and  timothy, 
seem  indigenous  to  the  soil.  Wherever 
the  seed  happens  to  fall  it  takes  root  and 
will  not  be  exterminated.  Through  the 
woods,  along  the  "tote  roads"  of  the  lum- 
berman, in  fact  wherever  man  has  been, 
are  found  luxuriant  stands  of  clover,  timo- 
thy and  blue  grass. 

In  the  production  of  what  is  known  as 
"garden  truck,"  the  soil  seems  fairly  to 
outdo  itself.  Potatoes,  turnips,  onions, 
carrots,  cabbage  and  all  the  family  of  table 
delicacies  yield  here  as  nowhere  else. 

Wisconsin  is  one  of  the  greatest  potato 
producing  states  in  the  Union.  The  soil  is 
peculiarly  adapted  to  the  growth  of  pota- 
toes and  the  climatic  conditions  seem  to 
insure  large  crops,  the  yield  being  from  150 
to  600  bushels  per  acre. 

Large  potato  warehouses  are  maintained 
at  convenient  shipping  centers  along  The 
North  Western  Line.  Special  equipment 
is  furnished  and  fast  schedules  maintained 
for  the  transportation  of  the  crop  to  the 
market. 

Oats,  rye  and  barley  return  a  large  and 
sure  crop  of  fine  grain,  and  the  yield  of 
field  peas  is  extremely  large  and  valuable 
for  dairy  food.  Rye  is  used  to  a  consider- 
able extent  for  pasturage  as  well  as  for  the 
grain. 


In  Many  Parts  of  Wisconsin  and  Michigan,  There  are  Consid- 
erable Areas  Where  the  Grasses  and  Tender  Shrubs 
Form  Excellent  Pasturage  for  the  Dairy  Herd. 


'  soil  and  conditions  in^Northern  Wis- 
consin and  Michigan  are  especially  adapted 
to  the  growing  of  the  sugar  beet  and  large 
factories  are  now  in  operation  at  Janes- 
ville,  Menominee,  Mich.,  Madison,  Wis.,  and 
other  points.  This  is  not  only  one  of  the 
most  profitable  farm  crops  that  can  be 
raised,  but  the  deep  plowing  and  close 
cultivation  that  it  requires  leave  the  soil 
in  an  ideal  condition  for  raising  extremely 
large  crops  of  grain. 

Alfalfa  has  also  proven  a  profitable  crop 
and  much  of  it  is  being  converted  into  pork 
in  a  most  profitable  manner.  It  is  a 
remarkable  fact  that  a  case  of  hog  cholera 
has  never  been  known  in  this  region. 

SHEEP 

It  is  also  an  ideal  sheep  region.  Red 
clover,  alsike,  blue  grass  and  timothy  are  as 
luxuriant  as  they  are  common.  Two  advan- 
tages are  claimed  for  the  .region:  First, 
that  clover  never  fails  to  grow  where  it  is 
sown;  and  second,  that  it  never  winter- 
kills. There  is  a  certainty  of  clover 
meadows,  abundant  "root  crops,  climate  and 
supply  of  pure  water,  which  make  it  possible 
to;jproduce  sheep  to  the  best  advantage. 

Sheep  drink  from  a  pint  to  two  or  three 
quarts  of  water  each,  daily,  and  no  animal 
demands  a  more  certain  or  purer  supply. 
The  numerous  springs  and  running  brooks 


All  the  Hardy  Fruits  do  well. 


In  Horthern  Wisconsin. 

insure  a  generous  water  supply  throughout 
the  year. 

The  steady  cold  of  the  winter  improves 
the  fibre  and  increases  the  length  and 
density  of  the  fleece.  The  wool  has  more 
"yolk"  than  the  southern  product,  giving* 
it  greater  weight  and  consequently  more 
value. 

So  far  as  sheep  culture  has  gone,  no 
disease  has  been  found  in  this  northern 
country,  the  cool  climate  seeming  to  elimi- 
nate the  diseases  common  to  the  herds 
farther  south.  Sleet,  slush  and  mud  in 
winter — the  curse  of  the  flocks  in  the 
Middle  States — are  quite  unknown  here. 

ADVANTAGES  SUMMED  UP 

Many  considerations  enter  into  the 
problem  of  selecting  a  place  to  make  one's 
home. 

The  essentials  to  health  and  prosperity 
must  attain  a  high  average  in  order  to 
satisfy  the  requirements. 

A  few  of  the  advantages  of  this  great 
northern  district  may  be  as  follows : 

There  is  abundant  water  supply,  rapid 
gravelly  streams  and  clear  lakes.  Pure 
well  water  can  be  had  at  a  depth  of  from 
ten  to  forty  feet  below  the  surface. 

Good  roads  are  rapidly  being  opened  in 


Northern  Wisconsin's  Big  Winter  Industry. 


all  parts  of  the  country.  The  lumberman 
left  a  legacy  of  carefully  constructed  roads 
in  every  county  where  he  operated  logging 
roads;  and  the  business  management  of 
county  affairs  maintains  these  and  looks 
well  to  the  comfort  and  convenience  of  the 
farmer  in  all  public  affairs. 

Schools  and  churches  are  well  established, 
the  taxes  are  low,  and  the  local  govern- 
ment efficient. 

The  University  of  Wisconsin  ranks  per- 
haps as  high  as  any  institution  in  the 
world,  particularly  in  connection  with  the 
experimental  work  it  has  accomplished 
along  the  lines  in  which  the  farmers  are 
most  directly  interested.  The  results  have 
been  highly  practical. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  features  of 
the  work  to-day  is  the  organization  of  hun- 
dreds of  farmers  throughout  the  state,  all 
of  whom  are  engaged  in  making  experi- 
ments of  the  most  practical  character,  the 
results  of  which  are  placed  at  the  disposal 
of  the  University  for  public  use. 

The  settler  must  not  overlook  the  very 


great  advantage  offered  in  this  timber 
region  of  free  building  material,  free  fuel, 
sure  crops,  timber  products  that  will  pro- 
vide an  immediate  source  of  revenue,  excel- 
lent profits  from  small  crops,  diversity  of 
crops,  proximity  to  the  best  markets  and 
last,  but  by  no  means  least,  the  best  of 
educational  and  social  advantages. 

The  exceptionally  complete  railway  ser- 
vice must  also  be  taken  into  consideration. 
The  North  Western  Line  places  this  land 
within  a  night's  ride  of  the  great  cities  of 
Chicago,  Milwaukee,  Minneapolis,  St.  Paul, 
Duluth,  Superior,  Marquette  and  other 
cities. 

To-day  the  settler  reaches  his  new  home 
with  the  greatest  ease.  The  settler  of  a 
few  years  ago  had  to  drive  into  the  new 
country  with  his  covered  wagon,  his 
worldly  goods  and  his  live  stock,  over  roads 
cut  through  the  forest.  He  had  to  ford 
streams  and  dodge  Indians,  camping  at 
night  and  pushing  forward  over  the  dreary 
miles  by  day.  Now  his  family  and  belong- 
ings reach  their  new  home  by  rail,  and  they 


10 


Sugar  Beets,  Oats  and  Corn, 

are  in  close  communication  with  the  world 
by  means  of  the  railway,  the  daily  news- 
paper, rural  mail  delivery  and  the  tele- 
phone. 

FACTS  TO  CONSIDER 

The  average  rainfall  of  this  region. 

Truck  farming  is  very  profitable  in  this 
section,  with  good  home  markets. 

The  best  place  in  America  to  raise  horses, 
mules,  cattle,  sheep  and  hogs. 

Cereal  crops  average  more  bushels  per 


Near  Menominee,  Mich. 

acre  than  in  any  other  northern  state. 
This  may  be  said  particularly  of  oats,  the 
average  yield  being  from  sixty  to  eighty 
bushels  per  acre. 

No  swamps  in  this  section — no  malaria, 
no  catarrh,  no  chills,  no  fever,  no  cyclones, 
no  hail  or  destructive  storms. 

Lumbering  and  manufacturing  interests 
offer  ample  employment  at  good  wages, 
both  winter  and  summer. 

Every  stick  of  wood  from  your  place  can 
be  sold  at  nearby  markets. 


A  Typical  Wisconsin  Stock  Farm. 
11 


A  Northern  Wisconsin 

A.  D.  Campbell,  Commissioner  of 
Immigration  for  Wisconsin,  writes  in  the 
Chicago  Evening  Post  regarding  the  advan- 
tages to  settlers  in  the  northern  portion  of 
his  state  as  follows : 

"Wisconsin  has  10,000,000  acres  of  rich, 
hardwood  timber  lands,  surrounded  by  the 
best  of  markets,  with  ample  rainfall  dis- 
tributed through  the  season  to  produce 
maximum  crops,  with  splendid  climate  and 
the  purest  of  water,  where  crops  are  not 
penalized  by  a  long-distance  freight  rate, 
or  supplies  burdened  by  the  natural  conse- 
quences of  isolation. 

"What  will  these  lands  produce? 

"All  the  cereals  in  abundance,  clover  pas- 
tures and  meadows  such  as  are  seldom 
seen,  corn  as  high  as  sixty  bushels  an  acre, 
potatoes  of  the  best  quality  at  from  150  to 
200  bushels  an  acre  and  even  more,  root 
crops  in  surprising  proportions,  sugar  beets 
bring  from  $60  to  over  $100  an  acre,  to- 
bacco at  $100  to  $200  and  more  an  acre, 
peas  at  from  $25  to  $75  an  acre  delivered 
in  the  straw  at  the  canning  factory. 


Meadow   (near  Ingalls,  Mich.). 

"They  will  produce  also  all  the  small 
fruits  in  abundance,  in  some  sections 
apples  up  to  $300  an  acre,  cherries  upward 
of  $500  an  acre. 

"This  land,  with  the  large  timber  cut  off, 
may  be  purchased,  close  to  live  and  grow- 
ing towns,  in  the  very  midst  of  a  splendid 
market,  at  from  $10  to  $20  an  acre. 

"And  inexpensive  modern  machinery  will 
clear  this  land  quickly :  instance  the  Wau- 
kesha  Canning  Company  clearing  140  acres 
this  year  and  the  partial  clearing  of  600 
acres  more,  to  be  completed  next  year, 

"Many  Illinois  farmers  have  said  to  the 
writer  that  they  could  not  raise  on  their 
$200  land  as  fine  clover,  timothy,  barley, 
oats,  squash,  potatoes  and  apples  as  was 
taken  from  this  area  to  the  Illinois  state 
fair  this  year. 

"To  cultivate  this  magnificent  area 
requires  no  expert  knowledge  in  engineer- 
ing or  agriculture;  to  locate  on  it  necessi- 
tates no  expensive  trekking  to  distant 
points,  nor  is  the  settler  isolated  from  cities, 
extensive  markets,  universities  and  col- 
leges." 
12 


redg||y;  SCHNASSEJ  ^b. 


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Lines  under  Construction 


County  Map   of  South  Dakota,  Showing  Lines  of  The  Chicago  &  North  Western, 


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«re,  Rapid  City  &  North  Western  and  Chicago,  St.  Paul,  Minneapolis  &  Omaha  Rys. 


A  Corn  Field  in  Tripp  County,  S.  D.,  on  the  Recently  Opened  Rosebud  Lands. 


South  Dakota 


In  South  Dakota  the  new  settler  will  find 
a  wide  range  of  conditions.  The  great  size 
of  the  state  (200  miles  by  400  miles)  makes 
an  extensive  range  of  climate,  and  the  com- 
monwealth may  be  divided  into  three  dis- 
tinct geographical  sections,  each  of  which 
varies  from  the  others  in  many  essentials. 

That  portion  of  the  state  which  lies  east  of 
the  Missouri  River  is  a  populous,  pros- 
perous, heavy  crop-producing  country, 
throughout  which  are  scattered  towns  and 
cities  of  importance.  The  entire  region  is 
covered  with  a  network  of  railway  lines, 
furnishing  high  class  service.  The  land  is 
worth  from  $15  to  $50  per  acre,  the  most  of 
it  being  well  improved. 

West  of  the  Missouri  River  is  the  great 
Cheyenne  Range  country,  famous  since  the 
earliest  days  of  the  Indian  for  pasturage 
that  is  not  surpassed  anywhere.  The 
original  buffalo  grass  and  wheat  grass  cure 
on  the  stem  like  grain.  The  free  range  is 
extensive,  and  the  water  supply  is  abun- 


dant. The  shipping  facilities  place  the 
region  at  all  times  in  touch  with  the  great 
live  stock  markets  of  Chicago,  Sioux  City, 
South  Omaha  and  South  St.  Paul. 

West  of  Pierre,  the  capital  of  the  state, 
thousands  of  settlers  have  come  into  the 
newly  opened  district  tributary  to  the 
P.  R.  C.  &  N.  W.  Ry.,  recently  built  from 
Pierre  westward  to  the  Black  Hills;  and 
there  is  land  for  many  more  and  oppor- 
tunities for  good  business  openings  in  the 
new  towns  along  the  line. 

The  construction  of  other  new  lines  in 
South  Dakota  is  being  Worked  out  by  the 
North  Western  and  the  development  of 
agricultural  interests  is  remarkably  swift. 

There  yet  remains  considerable  Govern- 
ment land  to  be  had  in  South  Dakota  under 
the  United  States  Homestead  Laws,  and 
the  value  of  this  public  land  has  been  added 
to  by  the  improvements  made  by  the 
thousands  who  have  availed  themselves  of 
the  opportunity  to  thus  secure  homes.  The 


13 


recent  opening  of  the  greater  portion  of  the 
Cheyenne  River  and  Standing  Rock  Reser- 
vations to  settlement  has  added  fresh 
impetus  to  the  growth  of  the  western  por- 
tion of  the  state. 

It  is  a  fact  conceded  by  the  best  author- 
ities that  this  open  range  country  west  of 
the  Missouri  River  has  a  greater  rainfall, 
richer  soil,  milder  winters,  more  pleasant 
summers  and  natural  resources  of  greater 
extent  than  are  available  in  portions  of 
Europe  in  which  100,000,000  people  dwell 
and  where  farm  lands  are  worth  from  $100 
to  $800  per  acre. 

There  is  no  state  in  the  Union  which 
presents  such  an  array  of  attractive  oppor- 
tunities for  home-building,  and  safe  in- 
vestments with  satisfactory  returns.  The 
undeveloped  resources  of  South  Dakota  are 
incalculable,  and,  comparatively  speaking, 
they  have  scarcely  been  touched. 

The  state  has  approximately  an  area  of 
50,000,000  acres,  practically  all  of  it 
fertile.  Only  23,000,000  acres  have  been 
entered  and  patented,  so  that  there  are  yet 
several  millions  of  acres  of  public  lands. 
Five  years'  residence  will  secure  a  patent 
to  1 60  acres,  and  the  entryman  may  com- 
mute his  entry  after  fourteen  months  of 
bona-fide  residence  by  paying  the  appraised 
value  of  the  land,  as  adjusted  by  the 
Department  of  the  Interior. 


While  there  is  yet  much  land  to  be 
homesteaded,  it  is  being  rapidly  entered, 
and  the  growing  scarcity  of  desirable  fertile 
land  that  may  yet  be  purchased  at  reason- 
able prices, and  the  crowded  population  of  the 
middle  and  eastern  states  have  precipitated 
a  tremendous  influx  of  settlers.  Naturally 
land  in  the  more  thickly  settled  parts  of  the 
state  has  increased  in  value.  Some  tracts 
are  being  sold  for  $90  per  acre,  and  hun- 
dreds of  tracts  readily  sell  at  $75  per  acre. 

This  land  is  easily  tilled,  is  generally 
level  or  slightly  rolling,  and  will  produce 
crops  as  large,  and  with  less  labor,  than 
much  land  that  is  being  sold  in  states  far- 
ther east  for  $100  or  $125  per  acre. 

In  addition  to  the  many  facilities  for 
home-building  and  money-making,  South 
Dakota  offers  numerous  other  advantages. 
Churches  of  every  denomination  are  estab- 
lished, the  public  schools  are  not  excelled 
by  those  of  any  commonwealth,  and  the 
railroads  connect  all  parts  of  the  state  with 
over  4,000  miles  of  first-class  service. 

THE  BLACK  HILLS 

In  the  southwestern  portion  of  the  state 
is  the  Black  Hills  district.  This  region, 
thrown  up  in  the  midst  of  the  plains  by 
some  giant  upheaval  of  past  ages,  occupies 
an  area  about  60  miles  wide  and  100  miles 
long.  It  has  an  altitude  of  about  3,500 
feet  and  is  remarkably  rich  in  gold,  silver 


Construction  of  the  Big  Belle  Fourche  Reservoir. 
14 


Raised  Near  Gregory,  in  the  Rosebud  Country. 

and  other  minerals,  well  timbered,  well 
watered  and  possesses  a  climate  of  such 
bracing  and  invigorating  quality  as  to 
extend  its  fame  through  all  parts  of  the 
world. 

In  fact,  in  addition  to  its  mining  inter- 
ests, the  Black  Hills  region  is  noted  as  a 
great  natural  sanitarium,  where  the  pure 
air  and  a  happy  combination  of  right  alti- 
tudes with  medicinal  waters  join  to  make 
especially  advantageous  conditions  for  the 
healthseeker. 

Surrounding  the  Black  Hills  on  the 
north,  east  and  south  are  the  prairie  lands 
whose  succulent  grasses  have  made  them 
especially  suitable  for  the  grazing  of  cattle, 
spreading  out  to  such  an  extent  that  their 


outer  rim  encloses  an  area  greater  than  that 
of  Great  Britain,  Germany  and  France, 
and  where  the  pasturage  has  been  famous 
since  the  days  when  herds  of  buffalo  and 
wandering  tribes  of  Sioux  were  the  only 
inhabitants. 

THE  BELLE  FOURCHE  IRRIGATION 
PROJECT 

In  the  beautiful  Belle  Fourche  Valley, 
adjacent  to  and  north  of  the  Black  Hills 
district,  the  Government  is  completing  an 
irrigation  project,  by  means  of  which  100,- 
ooo  acres  of  land  will  at  an  early  date  be 
supplied  with  water. 

The  Belle  Fourche  River  and  its  tribu- 
taries supply  the  water  for  the  project,  it 
being  stored  in  a  vast  lake  or  reservoir 
from  which  the  lands  are  to  be  supplied  by 
the  gravity  system.  So  positive  is  the 
certainty  of  water  supply  and  so  marked 
is  the  simplicity  of  the  engineering  plans, 
that  the  cost  of  the  project  has  been 
reduced  to  a  point  where  the  settler  buys 
his  lands  and  water  rights  at  an  unusual 
advantage. 

WHAT  WILL  IT  COST? 

These  lands  partly  belong  to  the  public 
domain  and  partly  are  deeded  lands. 
The  public  lands  can  be  secured  under  the 
terms  of  the  United  States  Homestead 


In  the  Rosebud  Country,  Near  Bonesteel,  S.  D. 
15 


Government  Dam  and  Reservoir  at  Belle  Fourche. 


Laws.  These  require  a  continuous  residence 
of.  five  years  to'  secure  title.  The  average 
irrigable  area  on  these  homesteads  is 
eighty  acres;  and  in  addition  to  this,  there 
is  considerable  bench-land  in  connection 
with  that  which  is  under  the  ditch,  that 
can  be  used  for  pasturage  and  for  raising 
rough  feed  for  stock. 

The  cost  of  water  for  lands  under  the 
project  will  be  about  $30  per  acre,  divided 
into  ten  annual  payments,  or  about  $3.00 
per  acre  per  year,  without  interest,  and 
represents  only  the  actual  cost  to  the 
Government  of  the  irrigation  plant.  The 
first  payment  becomes  due  in  the  fall  after 
the  water  has  been  delivered  for  the  crop. 
In  the  case  of  lands  belonging  to  the 
Government,  this  includes  the  total  cost  of 
title  to  the  land  and  perpetual  water  rights. 
A  maintenance  and  operation  charge  of 
40  or  50  cents  per  acre  is  also  necessary. 

The  lands,  when  in  cultivation,  will 
probably  be  easily  worth  $75  to  $100  per 
acre,  and  the  crops  produced  will  no  doubt 
pay  good  interest  on  this  amount.  It  is  an 
excellent  chance  for  a  man  to  secure  a  home 
and  pay  for  it  from  the  crops  he  produces. 

A  settler  here  would  require  about  $1,000 
in  cash,  one  or  two  teams,  a  cow,  farm  imple- 
ments, etc.,  as  a  basis  for  getting  started. 

One  thousand  farms  are  ready  for  settle- 
ment at  the  present  time,  and  12,000  acres 
of  land  are  under  water  for  the  first  time 
this  year.  The  remainder  of  the  land  will 


be  supplied  with  water  privileges  as  rap- 
idly as  the  work  progresses,  there  being  a 
total  of  100,000  acres  irrigable. 

Inquiry  concerning  lands,  how  to  acquire 
them,  crops  and  other  facts  relating  to  this 
section  of  country,  should  be  addressed  to 
the  Secretary  of  the  Belle  Fourche  Valley 
Water  Users'  Association,  Belle  Fourche, 
S.  D. 

A  NEW  CITY 

A  new  town  is  to  be  laid  out  by  the 
Government  in  the  midst  of  the  irrigated 
district;  and  here,  as  well  as  in  towns 
already  located,  there  are  rare  opportuni- 
ties for  the  merchant  to  establish  a  trade 
before  the  region  fills  up.  The  merchant 
and  professional  man  will  here  have  the 
advantage  of  those  unusual  opportunities 
for  success  which  always  exist  when  com- 
munities are  new  and  growing  rapidly. 

"WHAT  CROPS  WILL  GROW 

On  one  piece  of  irrigated  land  in  the 
Black  Hills  region  which  has  been  under 
cultivation  for  fifteen  years,  the  crop  has 
never  run  less  than  40  bushels  of  oats  per  acre 
and  has  produced  as  high  as  100  bushels; 
the  land  produces  30  bushels  of  wheat  per 
acre  without  irrigation. 

Alfalfa,  potatoes,  sugar  beets,  hardy 
fruits  and  garden  truck  are  grown  profit- 
ably. Wheat  grass,  the  native  hay,  sells 
for  a  high  price — for  this  country  is  one  of 
the  greatest  cattle  ranges  in  the  world. 


16 


A  South 

This  proposed  irrigated  valley  will  also 
create  a  new  industry — that  of  winter 
feeding  of  cattle  and  sheep,  summer  pas- 
tured on  the  nearby  free  and  open  range — 
an  industry  that  will  make  this  section  a 
rival  of  the  most  prosperous  regions  of  the 
West.  It  is  surrounded  by  a  vast  range 
country  to  the  north,  east  and  west,  that 
affords  pasturage  for  herds  of  cattle  and 
large  bunches  of  sheep,  and  the  advantages 
of  this  free  range  in  connection  with  an 
irrigated  country  are  of  inestimable  value. 

In  other  irrigated  regions  stock  is  not 
only  wintered  on  alfalfa  and  grain,  but 
wintered  and  fattened  on  sugar-beet  pulp 
from  the  factories,  which  has  proven  a 


Dakota  Harvest. 

cheap  feed.  The  chances  that  a  beet-sugar 
factory  will  be  built  in  this  territory  in  the 
next  year  or  two  are  extremely  good,  as 
capitalists  have  reported  favorably  on  the 
proposition. 

The  housewife  can  grow  her  garden  and 
flowers.  Insect  pests  are  unusually  few  in 
number,  and  there  has  never  been  a  loss 
from  grasshoppers  or  other  insect  visita- 
tions. 

The  valley  is  a  natural  artesian  basin. 
Flowing  water  of  the  finest  quality  is 
secured  at  a  depth  of  from  500  to  1,500  feet. 
NEARBY  MARKETS 

Belle  Fourche  has  the  advantage  of  most 
districts  that  are  being  opened  to  irrigation 


On  a  Government  Homestead 

17 


Street  Scene — A  Typical  Nebraska  Town. 


Nebraska 


In  1904  Congress  passed  an  act  known  as 
the  Kinkaid  Bill,  under  the  terms  of  which 
large  tracts  of  public  lands  in  northwestern 
Nebraska,  reached  by  the  line  of  the 
Chicago  &  North  Western  Railway,  were 
thrown  open  to  settlement.  The  principal 
feature  of  the  Kinkaid  Bill  is  that  the 
applicant  may,  in  the  territory  named, 
make  entry  under  the  homestead  laws  of 
640  acres  (one  square  mile),  instead  of  160 
acres  of  land.  The  purpose  of  this  is  to 
enable  the  homesteader  to  use  his  land 
profitably  for  grazing  purposes. 

There  are  large  quantities  of  these 
unallotted  public  lands  in  Nebraska,  situ- 
ated in  the  northern  part  of  the  state, 
through  which  the  Chicago  &  North 
Western  Railway  passes  directly.  The 
lands  affected  have  been  open  to  the 
homesteader  in  lots  of  160  acres  for  many 
years,  but  have  not  been  heretofore  taken 
up  to  any  great  extent  because  of  the  fact 
that  a  quarter-section  is  not  sufficient  to 
use  profitably  for  cattle-raising  purposes. 

The  rainfall  in  this  part  of  the  state  is 
not  sufficient  for  successful  farming  except 
by  the  advanced  methods  of  scientific  dry 
farming,  and  it  is  on  this  account  that  the 


Kinkaid  Bill  has  been  passed,  with  the 
result  that  a  Nebraska  cattle  ranch,  one  mile 
square,  absolutely  free,  is  the  offer  which  the 
Government  makes  to  every  man  or  head  of  a 
family  in  the  United  States. 

From  the  8,500,000  acres  of  these  lands, 
anyone  desiring  to  become  possessor  of  a 
section  of  grazing  land  should  have  no 
trouble  in  finding  a  tract  suitable  to  his 
taste,  and  now  that  the  practical  merits  of 
dry-farming  methods  have  become  estab- 
lished clearly,  the  value  of  these  lands  for 
agricultural  purposes  has  become  much 
greater  than  ever  before. 

As  an  example  of  the  quality  of  the 
lands,  Rock  County  actually  ships  more 
hay  to  market  via  The  North  Western 
Line  from  the  town  of  Newport  than  is 
shipped  to  market  from  any  other  one 
point  anywhere  in  the  world ;  while  one  of 
the  finest  potato-raising  districts  in  the 
West  has  its  shipping  center  at  Gordon,  in 
Sheridan  County. 

Such  towns  as  O'Neill,  Long  Pine,  Valen- 
tine, Rushville,  Chadron,  and  Lusk  are 
well  equipped '  with  stores,  banks,  schools 
and  churches,  and  the  whole  region  is  well 
populated. 


20 


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h  Western  Ry.  and  Chicago,  St.  Paul,  Minneapolis  &  Omaha  Ry. 


One  Source  of  Nebraska's  Wealth. 


Public  Lands  in  Nebraska  in  counties  reached 
by  the  North  Western  Line,  that  are  subject  to 
settlement  under  the  homestead  laws  under  the 
Kinkaid  bill: 

Holt,   12,000  acres.  Boyd,  700  acres 

Rock,  4,000  acres.  Brown,  81,452  acres. 

KeyaPaha,  38, 040  acres.  Cherry,  1,015,582  acres. 
Sheridan,  164,286  acres.    Dawes,  9,000  acres. 
Sioux,  417,620  acres. 

You  can  make  your  filing  at  Valentine  or 
O'Neill  at  any  time,  these  points  being 
reached  by  the  direct  train  service  of  the 
Chicago  &  North  Western  Railway,  from 
Chicago,  Milwaukee,  Des  Moines,  Omaha, 
Sioux  City,  St.  Paul,  Minneapolis,  Duluth 
and  all  points  west  and  northwest. 

Every  man  or  unmarried  woman,  over 
the  age  of  21;  every  married  man  under 
the  age  of  21;  every  widow,  every  minor 
orphan  child  of  a  deceased  soldier,  or  any 
person  who  is  the  head  of  a  family  by 
adoption  of  a  minor  child,  not  already 
owning  more  than  160  acres  of  land  and 
who  is  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  may 
homestead  640  acres  of  this  land,  for  the 
same  fee  charged  by  the  Government  for 
1 60  acres  in  other  states.  The  amount  of 
this  fee  is  $14. 


A  man,  for  instance,  with  three  sons  and 
two  unmarried  daughters  (all  past  the  age 
of  21  years}  may  take  up  six  sections,  3,840 
acres  of  this  land,  in  a  compact  body,  making 
a  first-class  cattle  ranch,  which  will  cost 
them  nothing  but  the  required  residence 
of  five  years.  Should  he  wish  to  receive 
his  deed  before  the  end  of  five  years,  he  may, 
at  the  end  of  fourteen  months,  pay  $1.25  per 
acre  and  receive  his  deed. 

THE   KINKAID  BILL  LANDS 

The  healthful  climate,  the  well-endowed 
system  of  public  schools,  the  growing 
towns  and  prosperous  farms,  and  the 
steady  increase  in  transportation  facilities 
and  in  values  of  land,  make  Nebraska's 
future  well  worth  careful  examination  by 
the  man  who,  with  small  capital,  desires 
to  establish  himself,  to  make  a  home  for  his 
family,  to  secure  an  education  for  his  chil- 
dren and  to  make  certain  a  competence 
for  the  days  to  come. 

That  portion  of  the  state  in  which  are 
found  the  lands  that  are  available  under  the 
terms  of  the  Kinkaid  Bill  is,  as  has  been 
said  elsewhere  in  this  book,  hardly  avail- 
able for  agricultural  purposes  except  in  a 


21 


Nebraska  Cattle. 


very  limited  degree,  the  rainfall  being 
insufficient.  Irrigation  is  being  practiced 
to  an  extent,  but  irrigable  lands  are  not 
open  for  settlement  under  the  provisions 
of  the  act  referred  to. 

Stock-raising,  therefore,  is  the  principal 
industry.  There  is  no  finer  grazing  land  in 
the  world  than  that  found  on  the  uplands 
of  western  Nebraska,  the  buffalo  grass 
affording  excellent  pasturage  from  early 
in  the  spring  to  late  autumn  and  through  a 
large  portion  of  the  winter  months,  and 
with  enough  of  the  qualities  of  grain  to 
serve  as  a  fattener  to  a  degree  that  is  not 
possible  with  any  other  known  pasturage. 

In  addition  to  the  stock-raising  industry, 
hay  is  produced  in  large  quantities,  and  a 
great  part  of  the  region  is  open  to  the 
successful  culture  of  alfalfa. 

The  acreage  of  this  latter  product  is 
growing  yearly,  both  in  the  valleys  where 
the  plant  sustains  itself  from  the  sub- 
terranean waters  which  underlie  the  greater 
part  of  the  state,  and  under  the  still  more 
favorable  conditions  of  irrigation. 

The  dairying  interests  of  northwestern 
Nebraska  are  commanding  increased  atten- 
tion also,  creameries  being  established  at 
important  points  on  the  railway,  and  thus 
creating  a  convenient  market  for  all  the 
cream  that  can  be  produced. 


The  school  system  of  Nebraska  is  estab- 
lished on  a  most  desirable  basis  (the  state 
shows  the  lowest  percentage  of  illiteracy) ; 
the  school  funds  being  based  on  the  wise 
provisions  of  the  early  settlers,  by  which  a 
liberal  allotment  was  made  of  public  lands 
for  school  purposes.  These  lands  have 
grown  in  value  with  the  growth  of  the 
state  and  thus  created  a  liberal  educational 
fund. 

Churches,  too,  are  numerous  and  flour- 
ishing. 

There  are  several  live  and  typical  western 
towns  situated  in  the  counties  affected  by 
the  provisions  of  the  Kinkaid  Bill  along 
the  line  of  the  Chicago  &  North  Western 
Railway,  including  O'Neill,  Bassett,  Ains- 
worth,  Valentine,  Rushville,  Chadron  and 
Harrison. 

In  these  and  other  towns  along  the  lines 
of  the  Chicago  &  North  Western  Railway, 
good  business  opportunities  are  offered  to 
the  merchant,  mechanic,  farmer,  laborer 
and  professional  man,  opportunities  which 
will  largely  increase  with  the  growth  of 
the  country  and  the  opening  of  the  public 
lands  now  taking  place. 

The  former  United  States  Land  Receiver 
at  O'Neill  says  regarding  the  lands  tribu- 
tary to  these  towns,  that  are  available  for 
homesteading' under  the  Kinkaid  Act: 


22 


A  Group  of  Nebraska  Yearlings  That  Brings  Handsome  Profits. 


"Generally  speaking,  these  lands  are  first- 
class  grazing  lands.  In  my  judgment  most 
any  of  the  lands  available  in  my  district 
are  worth  at  least  $5  per  acre  for  grazing 
purposes.  If  a  man  will  go  at  it  right  I  am 
satisfied  there  arc  sections  available  that 
can  be  made  to  care  for  more  than  one  hun- 
dred head  of  cattle  the  year  around.  That 
is,  small  tracts  can  be  had  that  will  produce 
oats,  millet  and  other  rough  feed  for  the 
winter,  while  the  cattle  will  graze  from  eight 
to  nine  months  of  the  year." 

Nebraska  is  essentially  an  agricultural 
state  and  its  development  along  agricul- 
tural lines  has  been  and  continues  to  be 
very  rapid. 

Hand  in  hand  with  this  agricultural 
growth,  its  towns  and  cities  are  growing  in 
wealth  and  population  to  an  equal  degree. 
As  an  instance  of  this,  the  census  of  1900 
shows  that  the  largest  increase  in  popula- 
tion in  the  United  States  was  in  South 
Omaha,  where  the  percentage  of  increase 
for  ten  years  was  222.5  Per  cent-  Omaha, 
Fremont,  Lincoln,  Norfolk  and  a  score  of 
other  cities  located  on  the  Chicago  & 
North  Western  Railway,  also  show  a 
healthy  growth  each  year  that  places  the 
Nebraska  farmer  within  easy  reach  of  the 
best  markets  for  his  products.  Nebraska 
produces  a  quarter  of  a  billion  bushels  of 


corn  every  year,  with  an  average  yield  for 
twenty-one  years  of  30  bushels  per  acre;  and 
50,000,000  bushels  of  wheat,  with  an  in- 
creasing acreage  devoted  to  this  crop  each 
year. 

The  live  stock  from  the  range  finds 
ready  market  at  South  Omaha,  the  third 
largest  meat-packing  and  live  stock  market 
in  the  United  States,  Sioux  City,  where 
large  yards  and  packing  houses  are  also 
located,  and  at  Chicago,  all  of  which  are 
reached  by  the  fast  stock  trains  of  The 
North  Western  Line.  But  the  agricultural- 
ist's greatest  attention  at  present  is  given 
to  those  diversified  features  such  as  the 
development  of  the  rapidly  growing  dairy 
industry,  features  of  western  agricultural 
progress  that  are  bringing  to  the  farmer  and 
merchant  an  increase  in  land  values  and 
general  prosperity  that  is  unprecedented. 

THE  NORTH  WESTERN  LINE 

Across  the  state,  the  lines  of  the  Chicago 
&  North  Western  Railway  from  Omaha, 
and  from  a  point  opposite  Sioux  City, 
converge  with  the  line  from  the  Missouri 
River  near  Blair,  and  extend  along  the 
Elkhorn  and  Niobrara  valleys  to  its  western 
boundary.  A  comparatively  recent  exten- 
sion of  The  North  Western  Line  reaches 
north  from  Norfolk  to  Dallas  on  the 


A  Ranch  Scene  Near  Phillip,  S.  D. — On 

THE  NEW  LINE,  PIERRE  TO  RAPID  CITY,  A 

The  Pierre,  Rapid  City  &  North  Western  Railway  from  Pierre,  across  the  Missouri  River,  through  the  ra«,t 

at  Pierre  and  the  present  Black  Hills  line  of  that  system  at  Rapid  City. 
This  new  line,  165  miles  long,  opens  up  a  new  region  that  contains  hundreds  of  square  miles  of  agricultural 

has  led  to  rapid  development,  giving  Pierre,  the  state's  capital  and  Ft.  Pierre,  across  the  river,  and  the  a 
It  connects  Lead,  Deadwood  and  the  mining  district  of  the  Black  Hills,  Belle  Fourche  to  the  north  and  Hot  i5 

'than  ever  before  the  Lake  Superior  Iron  and  Copper  country  and  the  hardwood  forests  of  Wisconsin  ana 

and  western  halves  of  the  state  of  South  Dakota. 
It  is  a  fact  conceded  by  the  best  authorities  that  this  open  range  country  west  of  the  Missouri  River  has  a  gie 

available  in  portions  of  Europe  in  which  100,000,000  people  dwell  and  where  farm  lands  are  worth  froi 
Towns  have  grown  up  rapidly  along  this  new  line  and  thousands  of  settlers  have  already  -flocked  into  the  disi 

for  establishing  business  in  the  towns.     Regarding  these  opportunities,  full  information  will  be  sent  to-c 


On  a 


The  first  shipment  of  western  live  stock  to  the  Chicago  market   was  a  sled  load  of  hogs  picked  up  on  the  pro' 

Western  Railway  (in  1848}. 

To-day  the  Union  Stock  Yards  of  Chicago  have  a  capacity  of  100,000  head  per  day,  and  the  value  of  the  livt 
The  stock  farms  and  grazing  districts  of  the  West  are  placed  in  direct  communication  with  the  markets  of  Chi 
Large  feeding  yards  and  terminals  contiguous  to  the  city  are  maintained  by  The  North  Western  Line  for  the 


24 


'ierre,  Rapid  City  &  North  Western  Ry. 

OSS  THE  RANGE  COUNTRY  OF  SOUTH  DAKOTA 

untry  of  South  Dakota  to  Rapid    City,  forms  a  direct  link  between  the  Chicago  &  North  Western  Railway 

'.  grazing  land,  which  is  thus  placed  in  immediate  connection  with  the  outside  world.     This  connection 

•y  west  of  these  cities  an  impetus  beyond  anything  that  has  ever  been  done  for  this  region. 

gs  on  the  south,  with  Pierre,  Mankato,  St.  Paul,  Minneapolis  and  Duluih;  it  brings  into  closer  touch 

hthern  Michigan  with  the  range  country  west  of  the  Missouri  River,  and  more  closely  than  ever  the  eastern 

I 

Rainfall,  richer  soil,  milder  winters,  many  pleasant  summers  and  natural  resources  of  greater  extent  than  are 

I  oo  to  $800  per  acre. 

;\and  made  homestead  entries.     There  is  land  here  for  many  thousands  and  remarkably  good  opportunities 

\ie  upon  application  to  the  Industrial  Agent  of  the  Chicago  &  North  Western  Railway. 


\ 

:1  Range. 

?n  miles  out  of  town  and  brought  to  Chicago  on  a  construction  train  of  what  is  now  the  Chicago  &  North 

k  received  in  the  Chicago  market  amounts  to  over  $350,000,000  per  year. 

,  South  Omaha,  Sioux  City  and  other  points  by  the  fast  stock  trains  of  the  Chicago  &  North  Western  Railway. 
t  mmodation  of  the  shippers. 


Sorghum  Field  on  a  Government  Irrigation  Project. 


eastern  boundary  of  the  Rosebud  Indian 
Reservation  in  South  Dakota,  while  shorter 
lines  extend  northward  to  Wynot,  Crofton 
and  Bloomfield.  South  of  the  Platte 
River  three  diverging  lines  extend  from 
Fremont  to  Lincoln,  Seward,  Geneva, 
Superior,  David  City,  York  and  Hastings, 
so  that  the  Chicago  &  North  Western 
Railway  system  traverses  the  entire  length 
of  the  state  from  east  to  west,  and  also  its 
breadth  from  the  northern  to  the  southern 


state  line,  providing  direct  communication 
between  the  entire  northern  portion  of  the 
state  and  Omaha,  Council  Bluffs,  Kansas 
City,  Sioux  City,  Des  Moines,  Cedar  Rapids, 
St.  Paul,  Minneapolis,  Duluth,  Chicago  and 
the  East. 

OPPORTUNITIES  FOR  BUSINESS 

Opportunity  to  Work. 
Opportunity  to  Earn  a  Competence. 
Opportunity  to  Educate  your  Family. 


Threshing  Scene  near  Crawford,  Neb.     This  Farm  Contains  1,280  Acres 
of  Deep,  Black  Soil — No  Crop  Failures — Good  Water. 


26 


A  Field  of  Broom  Grass,  Northwestern  Nebraska. 


To  the  man,  who,  under  the  adverse 
conditions  of  high  prices  for  land,  high 
taxes  and  heavy  interest  rates,  finds  the 
burdens  of  farming  in  the  East  undesirable; 
to  the  man  who  desires  that  his  children 
shall  find  opportunity  to  establish  them- 


selves in  the  world;  to  the  farmer  who 
desires  to  secure  fertile  lands  cheaply,  or  to 
the  merchant  who  is  seeking  for  a  new 
opening  in  the  west,  the  possibility  of 
obtaining  a  new  home  is  a  question  of 
untold  importance. 


Wheatfield  Five  Miles  North  of  Rushville,  Neb. 
27 


Birds  Eye  View  of  Douglas.     The  Wyoming  State  Fair  is  Held  Here  Each  Year. 


Wyoming 


Agriculture  in  Wyoming  is  developing 
rapidly  along  three  separate  lines  of  growth : 

1.  The  active  growth  of  the  movement 
for  scientific  dry  farming,  coupled  with  the 
opportunity  to  secure  320  acres  of  govern- 
ment homestead  lands  under  the  Mondell 
Act. 

2.  The  irrigation  of  extensive  tracts  by 
private  enterprise  under  the  provisions  of 
the  Carey  Act. 

3.  The  opening  of  lands  to  irrigation  by 
the  United  States  Reclamation  Service. 

The  successful  experimentations  in  dry 
farming  all  along  the  line  of  the  Chicago 
&  North  Western  and  the  Wyoming  & 
North  Western  Railways,  from  the  Ne- 
braska-Wyoming line,  through  Douglas 
and  Casper,  west  across  the  center  of  the 
state,  exemplifies  the  first  classification. 

The  work  of  the  Wyoming  Central  Irri- 
gation Company,  in  the  Wind  River 
Valley,  with  headquarters  at  Shoshoni  and 
Riverton,  and  the  North  Platte  Valley 
irrigation  project  at  Douglas,  are  exam- 
ples of  the  second  classification;  and  ttu, 
government  work  on  the  Pathfinder  dai  . 
and  the  North  Platte  government  proje  , 
is  an  example  of  the  third  class. 

There  are  numerous  examples  of  exten- 
sive progress  in  agriculture  throughout 
the  state.  At  Lusk  and  Manville  there 
is  considerable  farming  activity;  and  at 
Careyhurst,  Judge  Carey  has  made  a  mar- 
velous development  of  extensive  tracts  of 


land  and  has  several  thousand  acres  of  very 
rich  alfalfa  lands  under  cultivation,  watered] 
by  a:  private  irrigation  system. 

At  Jireh  a  movement  of  considerable 
importance  is  being  made  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  large  colony  of  eastern  people, 
and  a  great  deal  has  also  been  done  at  this 
point  in  the  development  of  dry  farming. 

At  Lander,  the  western  terminus  of  The 
North  Western  Line,  several  small  moun- 
tain streams  are  made  use  of  for  irrigating 
the  village  gardens  and  in  the  immediate 
vicinity  of  the  town  are  several  successfully 
conducted  farms,  raising  fruits  and  alfalfa. 
Thousands  of  cattle  are  fed  here  every 
winter,  and  there  are  still  thousands  of 
acres  of  bench  lands  and  some  of  the 
valley  land  that  can  be  irrigated  to  advan- 
tage. 

Wheat,  oats,  rye,  barley,  potatoes  and 
sugar  beets,  under  the  scientific  method  of 
cultivation  called  "Dry  Farming,"  or  with 
the  aid  of  irrigation,  are  successful  crops. 

The  Wyoming  uplands  make  excellent 
paying  land  for  sheep,  cattle  and  horses. 
Last  year  the  state  ranked  second  in  the 
Union  in  wool  production,  there  being 
6,000,000  sheep  in  the  state,  valued  at 
$8,000,000. 

The  cattle  industry  is  also  extensive,  and 
a  profitable  and  growing  industry  is  the 
breeding  of  high  grade  horses,  the  horse 
raised  in  these  altitudes  being  remarkable 
for  his  strength  and  endurance. 


28 


ir 


County  Map  of  Wyominer,  Showine  Lines  of  The  Chicago  & 


'IT 


Kilometre.,  SO  — 1  loch. 
Q    5  10        20        :<0        40        50       60        it)        80        90        100 


13 


14 


15 


16 


trth  Western  Rv.  and  The  Wvomin^  &  North  Western  Rv. 


A  Wyoming  Herd. 


There  are  many  farms  in  Wyoming  on 
which  are  raised  30  to  40  bushels  of  wheat, 
40  to  60  bushels  of  oats  (the  large  yield 
being  due  in  great  degree  to  the  fact  that 
the  grain  weighs  very  heavy),  and  200 
bushels  of  potatoes  to  the  acre,  while  two 
or  three  crops  of  alfalfa  are  easily  produced, 
cutting  one  or  two  tons  each  crop,  and  hay 
that  runs  about  two  tons  per  acre. 

The  climate  is  much  more  equable  than 
that  of  similar  latitudes  in  the  East.     The:. 
air  is  always  pure  and  dry,  with  abunda^ 
sunshine.     The  heat  is  never  intense.      J||£ 
the  hottest  summer  weather  it  is  cool  ili^' 
the  shade,  and  the  nights  are  always  c$6kr<- 
The   air  in  winter   is   clear  and   bracing; 
in  fact,  the  dry  exhilarating  air  serves  as  a 
tonic  that  makes  for  health  and  happiness 
here  in  a  way  that  is  unknown  under  the 
duller  skies  of  the  East  and  South.     As  a 
place    in    which    to    recover    health    and 
strength,    Wyoming    constitutes    one    big 
sanitarium. 

320  ACRES  OF  GOVERNMENT  LAND 
FREE  TO  THE  HOMESTEADER 

Congress  has  enacted  a  law  known  as  the 
Mondell  Act,  under  the  terms  of  which 
large  tracts  of  public  lands  in  the  state  of 
Wyoming  which  are  reached  by  the  lines  of 
the  Chicago  &  North  Western  Railway  and 
Wyoming  &  North  Western  Railway  di- 
rect from  Chicago  and  the  East,  have 
been  thrown  open  to  settlement  under 
special  conditions. 

The  principal  feature  of  this  act  is  that 
the  homesteader  may  make  entry  of  twice 
the  usual  amount  of  acreage,  as  it  permits 


him  to  secure  320  acres,  instead  of  the 
usual  1 60  acres.  The  purpose  of  this  is 
to  enable  him  to  use  his  lands  profitablv 
for  grazing  purposes  and  for  scientific  dry 
farming. 

There  are  large  quantities  of  unallotted 
public  lands  in  Wyoming,  The  North 
Western  Line  passing  directly  through  them 
and  providing  facilities  for  shipment  of 
stock  and  grain  to  market  and  for  the 
transportation  of  passengers  on  fast  trains 
to  Omaha,  Sioux  City,  Des  Moines,  St. 
Paul,  Minneapolis,  Duluth  and  Chicago. 

The  Secretary  of  the  Interior  has  desig- 
nated approximately  150  townships,  trib- 
utary to  The  North  Western  Line  and 
extending  from  the  Nebraska  and  Wyo- 
ming state  line  on  the  east,  through  Con- 
verse and  Natrona  counties,  to  Natrona 
station,  on  the  west. 

These  lands  are  non-mineral  and  have 
been  designated  by  the  Secretary  of  the 
Interior  as  not  being  susceptible  of  irri- 
gation. 

Entry  under  the  Mondell  Act  may  be. 
made  at  the  United  States  Land  Office  at 
Douglas,  Wyo.  The  usual  proofs  and 
affidavits  must  be  supplied  as  required  by 
the  United  States  Homestead  Laws.  At 
the  time  of  making  final  proofs  under  the 
Mondell  Act,  the  entryman  shall  also  prove 
by  two  credible  witnesses  that  at  least  one- 
eighth  of  the  area  embraced  in  his  entry 
was  continuously  cultivated  to  agricul- 
tural crops,  other  than  native  grasses, 
beginning  with  the  second  year';  of  the 
entry,  and  that  at  least  one-fourth'  of  the 


29 


Fruits  Do  Well  in  Wyoming. 

area    has    been    continuously    cultivated, 
beginning  with  the  third  year  of  entry. 

The  advantages  the  Mondell  Act  offers 
to  the  seeker  for  a  new  home  are  especially 
attractive  when  taken  in  connection  with 
•the  rapid  advance  being  made  in  the  sci- 
ence of  dry  farming  and  the  practical 
results  now  being  produced  under  dry- 
farming  methods  when  properly  applied. 

SCIENTIFIC  DRY  FARMING 

To  the  farmer  who  is  seeking  a  new  home 
in  this  region  of  great  opportunities,  the 
science  of  so-called  dry  farming  is  an 
important  one,  and  a  definition  of  its 
meaning  and  a  description  of  the  methods 
of  planting  and  cultivation  that  it  involves 
is  of  much  interest. 

A  proper  definition  of  the  term  "dry 
farming"  is  the  scientific  cultivation  of 
crops  under  a  limited  rainfall  and  without 
irrigation. 


The  basis  of  dry  farming  is  the  estab- 
lishment in  the  soil  of  a  natural  reservoir 
of  moisture.  In  some  localities  enough 
water  can  thus  be  conserved  by  careful 
methods  of  cultivation  to  make  a  crop 
every  year.  In  other  localities  two  years 
rainfall  should  be  preserved.  With  a 
precipitation  of  fifteen  to  twenty-four 
inches  of  annual  rainfall,  many  farmers  in 
high  altitudes  are  cropping  annually. 


The  development  of  the  regions  of  the 
West,  where  so-called  "dry  farming"  must 
be  depended  upon,  will  place  millions  of 
acres  of  land  that  is  now  worthless,  under 
cultivation,  and  will  furnish  homes  for 
many  times  the  present  agricultural  popu- 
lation of  the  United  States. 

Land  recently  worth  no  more  than  50 
cents  an  acre  has,  by  means  of  the  unusual 
advance  in  dry-farming  methods,  risen  to 
an  active  market  value  of  $25. 

The  area  of  tillable  lands  in  the  United 
States  not  yet  turned  to  cultivation  is  com- 
paratively small,  and  with  the  present 
heavy  demands  for  land,  it  is  especially  the 
part  of  good  judgment  that  the  dry-farming 
districts  be  investigated  by  those  who  con- 


Breaking  Ground  on  a  Wyoming  Ranch. 


31 


Dry-Grown  Turkey 

template  getting  a  home  under  the  free 
homestead  laws. 

By  the  successful  use  of  scientific  soil- 
culture  methods,  200,000,000  acres  of  arable 
land  can  be  added  to  the  nation's  agricultural 
wealth . 

The  dry-farming  methods  recommended 
for  Wyoming  have  been  successfully  prac- 
ticed on  the  Pacific  Coast  for  more  than  a 
generation,  with  modifications  to  suit 
different  conditions  of  soil,  climate  and 
rainfall.  The  farmer  simply  divides  %his 
land  into  two  portions,  on  one-half  raising 
crops,  the  other  half  being  summer-fal- 
lowed. By  this  method,  which  is  easily 
understood  and  carried  out,  the  farmer  has 


Red  Wheat. 

a  long  season  instead  of  a  short  one,  and 
drives  his  work  instead  of  being  driven  by 
it.  Crops  are  produced  by  "this  method 
when  the  seasons  are  dryer  than  usual  and 
one  big  crop  is  raised  with  one  plowing, 
one  seeding,  several  cultivations,  practi- 
cally two  years'  moisture,  and  one  har- 
vesting. 

The  plowing  must  be  deep.  Old  ground 
should  be  plowed  eight  or  nine  inches 
deep,  and  it  is  always  better  to  plow  in  the 
fall  if  possible,  in  order  that  the  ground 
may  absorb  the  winter's  moisture,  the  sod 
become  decomposed,  and  the  soil  suffi- 
ciently compacted  to  form  a  good  seed  bed 
for  spring  planting.  All  spring  and  sum- 


The  Broad  Fertile  Valley  of  the  Big  Wind  River. 
32 


Flock  of  3,000  Sheep 

mer  plowing  should  be  thoroughly  har- 
rowed the  same  day  it  is  plowed.  Harrow 
(and  drill  as  well)  at  right  angles  to  the 
way  in  which  the  winds  blow,  the  object 
being  to  prevent  the  land  from  drifting, 
to  hold  the  snow  which  falls  on  the  plowed 
ground  or  winter  grain,  and  to  prevent  the 
particles  of  soil  or  snow  being  carried  along 
the  furrows. 

Winter  grain  should  be  sown  early,  spring 
grain  as  early  as  the  ground  can  be  put  in 
good  condition,  and  all  danger  of  hard 
freezing  is  past,  for  the  earlier  it  is  sown  the 
greater  is  its  chance  of  stooling.  Another 
thing  of  vital  importance  is  to  see  that  the 
seeds  are  planted  properly. 


in  Natrona  County. 

The  experience  of  the  most  intelligent 
and  up-to-date  farmers  shows  that  by 
sowing  thirty  to  forty  pounds  of  wheat  per 
acre  in  the  fall,  better  results  will  be  ob- 
tained than  with  more. 

The  press  drill  is  one  of  the  essential 
implements  for  the  dry  farmer.  It  sows 
the  grain  in  proper  shape  and  to  the  right 
depth,  pressing  the  soil  around  the  seed, 
which  insures  germination,  making  a  gain 
of  a  week  or  ten  days.  The  man  who  sows 
alfalfa  broadcast  puts  in  from-  twenty  to 
forty  pounds  of  seed  per  acre  when  if  he 
uses  a  press  drill,  ten  to  twelve  pounds  of 
seed  will  be  sufficient. 


Thoroughbred  Cattle  on  the  Carey  Ranch,  Near  Careyhurst,  Wyo. 


A  Fine  Field  of  Dry-grown  Wheat. 


The  soil  mulch  is  a  most  important 
factor,  for  by  it  moisture  is  conserved. 
The  summer-fallow  ground  should  be  in 
small  lumps,  care  being  taken  not  to  get 
it  too  fine.  The  object  of  cultivating  the 
summer-fallowed  soil  is  to  prevent  the 
formation  of  a  crust. 

The  soil  mulch  must  also  be  maintained 
on  the  land  which  is  raising  the  crop. 
There  are  a  large  number  of  farmers  who 
are  afraid  of  harrowing  their  grain  for  fear 
of  tearing  it  out.  The  man  who  once 
harrows  with  a  good  team  and  sharp  har- 
row teeth  will  not  only  have  no  cause  to 
regret  it,  but  will  see  that  it  is  always  done 
in  the  future.  Alfalfa  and  grass  meadows 
should  be  thoroughly  disked. 

Where  rainfall  comes  during  the  summer, 
disking  the  stubble  after  harvesting  grain  is 
also  important.  After  harvesting  potatoes 
or  sugar  beets  the  drag-harrow  should  be 
used  to  break  up  the  lumps  and  re-establish 
the  soil  mulch. 

As  for  equipment  needed,  dry  farming 
requires  some  things  absolutely,  if  the  dry 
farmer  would  make  his  business  profitable. 


He  should  have  four  or  six  horses,  a  three- 
section  drag-harrow,  a  2-12  or  1 4-inch 
gang  plow,  a  good  disc-harrow  (the  discs 
should  not  be  larger  than  fourteen  inches), 
an  Acme  harrow  for  maintaining  soil 
mulch,  one  or  two  good  cultivators  and  a 
press  drill.  The  latter  is  one  of  the  essen- 
tials, and  may  be  either  of  the  "shoe"  or 
the  "disc"  type.  The  latter  has  some 
advantages  where  there  is  much  stubble  or 
refuse,  but  on  well-prepared  summer- fal- 
low ground  the  shoe  drill,  with  press  wheels 
following  to  firmly  pack  the  seed,  probably 
does  the  best  work. 

The  best  paying  dry  farms  are  those  in 
which  a  system  of  cropping  and  feeding 
stock  is  followed;  and  where  the  crops  are 
fed  to  stock  at  the  farm,  there  is  practically 
no  loss  of  fertility. 

THE  CAREY  LAND  ACT 

Under  the  provisions  of  the  act  of  Con- 
gress, known  as  the  Carey  Act,  the  State  of 
Wyoming  has  segregated  forty-three  tracts 
of  land,  aggregating  nearly  750,000  acres, 
granted  to  it  by  the  Federal  Government, 


35 


to  be  reclaimed  by  means  of  irrigation. 
In  addition  to  the  320  acres  of  land  allowed 
by  the  Government  under  the  Mondell 
Act,  the  homesteader  may  also  file  upon 
1 60  acres  under  the  Carey  Act,  providing 
that  he  purchase  a  water  right  from  the 
association  or  company  constructing  a 
canal  for  the  reclamation  of  the  land,  at 
a  cost  of  from  $10  to  $40  per  acre,  depend- 
ing upon  location.  Not  more  than  one- 
quarter  of  the  purchase  price  can  be 
required  in  advance,  the  remainder  being 
payable  in  ten  equal  installments,  with 
interest  at  from  6  to  8  per  cent  per  year. 
The  settler  has  the  privilege  of  paying  all 
in  cash  if  he  so  desires,  or  paying  in  full  at 
the  time  fixed  for  any  partial  payment. 
Parties  desiring  to  take  up  homesteads 
under  this  act  are  requested  to  write  to  the 
Commissioner  of  Public  Lands,  Cheyenne, 
Wyo.,  for  full  details. 

THE  NORTH  PLATTE  VALLEY 
PROJECT 

One  or  two  systems  of  irrigation  are 
being  established  under  the  Carey  Act 
which  are  especially  worthy  of  notice.  At 
Douglas  the  North  Platte  Valley  irrigation 
project  is  irrigating,  with  water  from  the 


North  Platte  River  and  its  tributaries,  land 
that  is  rich  and  undulating  and  produces 
excellent  alfalfa,  sugar  beets,  grain,  pota- 
toes and  all  root  crops.  They  have  about 
28,000  acres  under  water  at  present,  and 
their  plans  include  development  of  a  total  of 
96,000  acres.  None  of  the  4and  in  this 
project  is  more  than  ten  miles  from 
Douglas,  a  city  of  2,000  population,  with 
good  schools,  churches  and  modern  con- 
veniences, such  as  electric  lights,  sewerage 
and  water. 

The  company  has  constructed  sixteen 
miles  of  canal  and  the  reservoir  of  their 
gravity  system  has  a  capacity  of  40,000 
acre-feet  of  water,  the  largest  re-enforced 
steel  concrete  dam  in  the  world. 

The  lands  lay  adjacent  to  the  National 
Gas  Pipe  Line  extension  from  the  Gas 
Belt  to  Douglas. 

There  are  two  shipping  points  on  the 
Chicago  &  North  Western  Railway. 

This  is  a  great  sheep  raising  country, 
and  lambs  can  be  fed  here  much  more 
cheaply  than  by  shipping  them  elsewhere, 
as  immediate  results  can  be  obtained  from 
feeding,  without  the  shrinkage  occasioned 
by  shipping  young  lambs.  They  are  taken 


Wyoming  Apples,  Grown  with  Irrigation 
36 


Threshing  Scene,  near  Douglas,  Wyo. 


instead  directly  from  their  range  and  from 
the  mothers,  to  the  feed  lots,  where  they 
can  be  finished  for  market  in  one  hundred 
days. 

THE  FETTERMAN  CANAL, 
DOUGLAS,  WYO. 

Another  extensive  enterprise  is  the  canal 
constructed  to  cover  some  6,000  acres  of 
land  west  of  Douglas,  including  lands  in 
what  is  known  as  the  "Old  Fort  Fetterman 
Reservation."  A  large  canal  has  been 
constructed  at  a  cost  of  over  $80,000,  and 
is  ready  to  deliver  water.  The  land  under 
this  canal  is  mostly  in  private  ownership, 
and  under  the  control  of  Mr.  John  Morton 
of  Douglas,  Wyo.,  who  will,  during  the 
present  season,  put  over  i  ,000  acres  in  crops. 
The  land  is  generally  level  and  very  fertile. 
The  Chicago  &  North  Western  Railway 
passes  through  the  tract. 

WIND  RIVER  RESERVATION 

By  act  of  Congress  of  March  3,  1905, 
part  of  the  Shoshone  or  Wind  River 
Reservation  was  opened  for  settlement 
under  the  Homestead  Act  in  July,  1906. 
The  portion  ceded  to  the  Government  and 
opened  for  settlement  embraces  the  land 
lying  north  and  east  of  the  Big  Wind  River, 


and  it  lies  at  an  elevation  of  from  4,300  to 
6,000  feet. 

Nearly  300,000  acres  of  this  virgin  land 
can  be  irrigated  from  the  Big  Wind  River, 
one  of  the  sources  of  the  Missouri  River, 
with  2,000  square  miles  of  timbered  moun- 
tains and  their  vast  snow  banks;  and  with 
lakes  and  reservoirs  holding  300,000  acre- 
feet  of  water,  as  the  source  of  water  supply. 

This  forms  the  basis  for  one  of  the  biggest 
plans  for  irrigation  ever  undertaken. 

The  Wyoming  Central  Irrigation  Com- 
pany is  under  contract  with  the  State  to 
build  a  canal  system  covering  all  the  lands 
which  can  be  irrigated.  Water  rights, 
together  with  a  proportionate  interest  in 
the  canals  and  reservoirs,  are  sold  at  $30 
per  acre  on  ten  years'  time,  payable  $3.00 
per  acre  down  and  balance  in  ten  equal 
annual  payments,  with  6  per  cent  interest. 
When  the  water  rights  have  been  sold,  the 
system  will  be  turned  over  to  the  -manage- 
ment  of  the  settlers  under  the  canal. 

Tributary  to  these  irrigable  lands  is  a 
vast  area  of  grazing  lands,  200  miles 
square,  where  500,000  sheep  and  100,000 
cattle  can  be  grazed,  which  can  all  be 
fattened  for  market  on  the  products  of  the 
farms  in  this  tract.  This  farming  district 


37 


is  surrounded  by  mineral  districts  con- 
taining coal,  copper,  oil,  gold,  building 
stone,  marble,  shale  suitable  for  Portland 
cement  manufacture,  limestone  and  brick 
shales.  The  thriving  towns  of  Shoshoni 
and  Riverton  are  at  present  the  market 
places,  and  the  land  under  the  first  lateral 
constructed  by  the  company,  amounting  to 
some  15,000  acres,  has  been  filed  upon,  as 
well  as  many  thousands  of  acres  for  which 
laterals  have  not  yet  been  constructed. 
There  are  thousands  of  acres  of  valuable 
land  open  for  settlement,  and  to  the 
settler  who  has  capital  to  enable  him  to 
clear  and  crop  the  land  there  is  an  unusually 
good  chance  to  develop  an  irrigated  farm 
that  will  make  a  splendid  home  and  insure 


him  an  income  for  the  remainder  of  his 
days. 

The  settlers  here  have  the  benefit  of 
results  obtained  from  an  experimental 
farm  established  by  the  company  for 
investigation1  as  to  the  value  of  various 
crops,  character  of  soil  and  best  methods 
of  irrigation. 

Small  grains,  alfalfa  and  potatoes  are  the 
principal  crops. 

On  that  part  of  the  reservation  retained 
by  the  Indians,  the  Government,  under  the 
efficient  direction  of  Major  Wadsworth, 
has  completed  a  series  of  irrigation  ditches, 
by  means  of  which  60,000  acres  of  irrigated 
Indian  lands  are  open  to  lease  by  white 
settlers  on  easy  terms. 


38 


UNITED  STATES  HOMESTEAD  LAWS 
Who  is  permitted  to  secure  a  Homestead? 

A  synopsis  of  what  steps  are  necessary  in  order  to  secure  a 
western  farm  from  the  U.  S.  Government. 


Under  the  present  provisions  of  the 
United  States  Homestead  Laws  any  man  or 
unmarried  woman,  twenty-one  years  of 
age,  who  is  a  citizen  of  the  United  States 
or  has  declared  an  intention  of  becoming 
such,  may  take  a  homestead.  In  addition 
to  the  above,  any  man  or  woman  who  has 
not  yet  reached  the  age  of  twenty-one  years 
may,  if  the  head  of  a  family,  take  up 
a  homestead;  but  any  person  who  owns 
more  than  160  acres,  or  who  has  heretofore 
exercised  the  homesteading  right,  is  de- 
barred from  these  privileges  (except  as 
especially  provided  in  the  Mondell  Act). 

"What  is  a  Homestead? 

Any  of  the  persons  named  above  has  the 
right  to  settle  upon  and  acquire  unappro- 
priated public  lands  not  to  exceed  160 
acres  (  320  acres  under  the  Mondell  act 
640  acres  under  the  Kinkaid  act,)  and  the 
land  so  taken  is  called  a  homestead. 

United  States  Land  Offices 
Land  districts  have  been  established  in 
certain  states  and  territories,  each  district 
subject  to  the  supervision  of  a  United 
States  Land  Office.  At  each  such  office  is  a 
"Register"  and  a  "Receiver,"  each  of  them 
public  officials  who  superintend  the  home- 
steading  or  other  disposal  of  public  lands. 

How  to   Secure  a  Homestead 

The  applicant  is  required  to  file  an  appli- 
cation on  a  form  furnished  by  the  United 
States  Land  Office,  describing  the  land  it  is 
proposed  to  pre-empt.  This  is  called  "filing 
the  homestead  entry." 

Certain  fees,  amounting  to  a  sum  of 
from  $6  to  $14,  must  be  paid  at  this  time. 

Having  fulfilled  the  requirements  of  the 
law  regarding  residence  for  five  years,  the 
applicant  presents  evidence  to  that  effect, 
and  pays  certain  fees,  which  amount  to 
from  $8  to  $22.  This  is  called  "proving 


up,"  or  making  final  proof,  and  if  the  appli- 
cant has  complied  with  all  the  requirements 
of  the  law,  the  Government  gives  him  title 
to  the  land;  this  title  being  known  as  a 
government  "patent." 

How  to  File  Entry  on  the  Land 

The  applicant  must  appear  personally 
at  the  local  land  office  to  make  entry. 

How  long  the  Homesteader  must 
live  on  the  Land 

Residence  must  be  begun  within  six 
months  after  the  date  on  which  the  entry 
is  made,  and  continued  with  cultivation 
until  a  patent  has  been  earned  by  five 
years'  residence  and  cultivation  and  the 
payment  of  the  installments  annually. 
A  residence  elsewhere  for  more  than  six 
months  at  any  one  time  is  considered  by 
the  Government  as  an  abandonment  of 
the  entry,  and  the  homesteader's  rights  are 
forfeited. 

The  homesteader  may,  however,  secure 
title  to  the  land  by  living  on  it  fourteen 
months  and  at  the  end  of  that  period 
making  final  payment  of  all  amounts  due 
thereon,  including  a  certain  sum  for  com- 
mutation, usually  50  cents  per  acre. 

Soldiers  and  Sailors 

A  soldier,  sailor  or  marine  of  the  Civil 
War,  Philippine  War,  or  Cuban  War,  may 
have  the  time  of  his  service  deducted  from 
the  five  years'  residence  required. 

After  such  soldiers,  sailors,  their  widows 
or  minor  orphan  children  have  actually 
resided  on  the  land  for  twelve  months,  they 
can  claim  credit  for  the  period  of  the 
soldiers'  military  service  on  the  remaining 
four  years'  residence  required  by  the  law. 
For  instance,  if  such  service  amounted  to 
four  years,  only  one  year's  residence  will 
be  required ;  if  it  amounted  to  three  years, 
two  years'  residence  will  be  required,  and 


39 


so  on;  but  there  must  be  one  year's  actual 
residence,  regardless  of  the  length  of  the 
military  service. 

Persons  not  qualified  to  make 

Homestead   Entry 

The  following  persons  are  not  qualified 
to  make  homestead  entry: 

1.  A  married  woman,  unless  she   has 
been  deserted  or  abandoned  by  her  hus- 
band, or  unless  her  husband  is  incapaci- 
tated by  disease  or  otherwise  from  earning 
a  support  for  his  family,  and  she  is  the  head 
and  main  support  of  the  family. 

2 .  One  not  a  citizen  of  the  United  States 
and  who  has  not  declared  his  intention  to 
become  such. 


3.  One  under  twenty-one  years  of  age, 
not  the  head  of  a  family. 

4.  One  who  is  the  proprietor  of  more 
than  1 60  acres  of  land  in  any  state  or  terri- 
tory. 

Homesteads  Not  Saleable 
Do  not  attempt  to  buy  out  a  homesteader 
without  keeping  in  view  the  fact  that  he 
can  give  you  no  title  as  against  the  United 
States.  If  you  purchase  a  relinquishment 
of  his  claim  it  must  run  to  the  United 
States. 

Entries  and  filings  for  the  purpose  of 
holding  the  land  for  speculation  are  illegal 
and  fraudulent;  and  the  sale  of  relin- 
quishments  is  also  illegal. 


Veiws  on  the  North  Platte  Government  Irrigation  Project.     Showing  Diversion  Canal  and  Entrance  to  Tunnel 


40 


Extracts   from   Letters    by  W.  E.  Curtis 


Reprinted  from  the  Chicago  Record-Herald 


Irrigation   System   Over    1,000  Miles    Long    Built 
at  Belle  Fourche 


William 


SETTLERS  OF  A  NEW  TYPE 

E.    Curtis    Finds    Farmers    Instead 
Prospectors  Entering  Country 


of 


BELLE  FOURCHE,  S.  D..  July  30,  1909  — The  most  east- 
erly of  the  irrigation  works  under  construction  by  the 
Federal  Government  to  reclaim  the  arid  lands  of  the  west 
is  on  the  Belle  Fourche  River,  just  north  of  the  Black  Hills, 
in  Butte  and  Meade  counties,  South  Dakota.  You  know 
that  several  years  ago  Congress  passed  an  act  providing 
that  the  proceeds  of  the  future  sales  of  public  lands 
should  be  used  as  working  capital  for  the  perpetual 
construction  of  reservoirs  and  irrigating  ditches  to  reclaim 
the  desert  lands  of  the  west  which  otherwise  would  be 
available  for  nothing  but  pastures.  In  other  words,  the 
money  is  to  be  reinvested  perpetually  until  the  arid  belt  is 
made  susceptible  of  agriculture.  As  fast  as  each  of  the 
thirteen  projects  now  under  construction  is  completed  the. 
irrigated  land  will  be  sold  to  actual  settlers  at  a  price  that  will 
cover  the  cost  of  the  plant,  and  when  all  of  the  land  is  taken 
up  and  paid  for,  the  irrigation  works  will  be  turned  over  by 
the  Government  to  a  co-operative  company  organized  by 
the  purchasers. 

The  proceeds  of  the  sale  of  irrigated  lands  is  deposited 
in  a  special  fund  in  the  treasury  for  the  construction  of  other 
projects  for  which  surveys  have  been  made  in  all  the  arid 
states  and  more  than  a  hundred  reservoir  sites  reserved. 
As  fast  as  the  money  is  available  each  of  these  in  turn  will 
be  utilized.  The  projects  that  have  been  planned  and  are 
already  under  construction  will  add  to  the  arable  area  of  the 
United  States  about  32,000,000  acres,  or  about  400,000 
farms  of  eighty  acres  each. 

The  Belle  Fourche  project  will  irrigate  about  1,500 
farms,  or  about  100,000  acres — an  area  of  15  by  4°  miles, 
more  or  less.  Of  this  area  about  one-half  belongs  to  private 
parties,  homesteaders  and  other  settlers  who  have  previously 
taken  up  government  lands;  about  5,000  acres  belong  to  the 
State  of  South  Dakota,  being  school  sections,  and  the  remain- 
ing 50,000  acres  belong  to  the  Government  and  is  being 
rapidly  taken  up  in  tracts  of  forty  and  eighty  acres,  which 
are  the  farm  units,  and  are  about  as  much  irrigated  land  as 
one  family  can  cultivate.  Settlers  are  required  to  pay  a 
filing  fee  of  $7  and  actually  live  on  the  land  for  five  years, 
paying  $30  an  acre  for  their  water  rights  in  installments  of 
10  per  cent  each  year. 

The  state  land  is  offered  for  sale  at  $10  an  acre  plus  the 
proportionate  cost  of  the  irrigation  system,  which  is  collected 
by  the  general  Government.  Private  lands  are  being  offered 
from  $10  to  $20  an  acre,  according  to  location  and  improve- 
ments, and  they  also  are  taxed  $3  an  acre  for  ten  successive 
years  to  pay  for  the  water  rights.  About  15,000  acres  are 
already  under  irrigation  and  about  60  per  cent  of  the  land 
has  been  taken  up,  most  of  it  in  tracts  of  eighty  acres,  by 
actual  farmers,  who  have  been  renting  in  Iowa,  Illinois,  Wis- 
consin and  Missouri,  and  have  come  out  here  so  that  they 
may  secure  farms  of  their  own. 

Everybody  here  tells  me  that  no  man  should  attempt 
to  run  a  farm  without  at  least  $  1,000  working  capital  to 
start  with,  as  there  are  so  many  expenses  before  harvesting 
the  first  crop.  Many  of  the  new  settlers  are  the  sons  of 


farmers  in  the  central  states,  and  several  of  their  daughters 
have  come  out  here  also. 

The  Belle  Fourche  irrigation  system  consists  of  about 
1,000  miles  of  ditches,  including  100  miles  of  main  canals, 
twenty  to  forty  feet  wide,  and  from  five  to  ten  feet  deep, 
and  about  700  miles  of  laterals  from  four  to  six  feet  wide 
and  two  feet  deep.  These  ditches  will  be  fed  from  an  artifi- 
cial lake  twelve  miles  long,  an  average  of  three  miles  wide  and 
115  feet  deep  at  its  deepest,  part.  It  is  a  peculiar  shaped 
body  of  water  owing  to  the  configuration  of  the  ground,  and 
there  will  be  several  islands  caused  by  high  knolls. 

This  reservoir  is  created  by  the  construction  of  a  dam  ^ 
between  two  hills  5, sou  feet  (or  220  feet  more  than  a  mile) 
long,  and  115  feet  high.     It  is  built  of  earth,  500  feet  thick 
at  the  base  and  20  feet  thick  at  the  top. 

The  dam  is  twelve  miles  from  the  flourishing  little  town 
of  Belle  Fourche,  and  the  water  which  feeds  it  is  taken  from 
the  river  about  two  miles  from  the  city  through  a  sluice  into 
which  it  is  conducted  by  a  diverting  dam.  The  lake  will 
contain  about  8,712,000,000  cubic  feet  of  water,  which  is 
equivalent  to  a  body  of  water  covering  200,000  acres  of  land 
one  foot  deep. 

The  United  States  Government  has  an  experimental 
farm  in  Butte  County,  a  short  distance  from  the  reservoir, 
and  has  reserved  several  additional  quarter-sections  for 
similar  purposes  within  the  irrigated  area.  The  average 
elevation  is  2,800  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  the  atmos- 
phere is  dry,  with  an  annual  precipitation  of  only  seven  or 
eight  inches;  the  soil  is  a  clay  loam  and  sandy  loam,  exceed- 
ingly fertile  and  free  from  alkali.  It  is  especially  favorable 
for  fruits  and  berries,  potatoes,  beets,  turnips  and  other 
root  crops,  and  for  alfalfa  and  hay.  There  is  an  almost 
unlimited  market  for  all  of  these  things  in  the  mining  camps 
and  the  towns  of  the  Black  Hills,  and  the  Chicago  &  North 
Western  Railroad  furnishes  an  outlet  to  markets  eastward. 

Ever  since  the  Black  Hills  were  opened  Belle  Fouche 
has  been  an  important  center  of  the  cattle  industry  and 
for  several  years  was  the  largest  live  stock  shipping  point 
in  the  United  States.  The  average  shipments  are  about 
75,000  head  of  cattle,  100,000  head  of  sheep  and  1,500,000 
pounds  of  wool  per  year.  The  cattle  ranches  have  been 
very  largely  cut  up  into  farms,  for  the  land  is  becoming 
too  valuable  for  grazing,  especially  since  the  irrigation 
projects  were  decided  upon.  Already  there  are  thousands 
of  acres  of  alfalfa  growing  on  what  were  ranges  only  a  few 
years  ago,  and  all  the  cereals  except  corn  have  been  pro- 
duced by  dry  farming  in  the  neighborhood,  although  the 
farmers  will  soon  have  plenty  of  water. 

The  class  of  people  who  are  coming  into  the  Black  Hills 
country  now  are  very  different  in  character  and  disposition 
from  the  early  settlers.  The  tide  of  immigration  is  quite 
as  strong  as  it  was -during  the  first  few  years  after  the  gold 
discoveries,  but  the  emigrants  of  to-day  are  farmers  instead 
of  prospectors  and  they  expect  to  make  their  fortunes  with 
the  plow  and  harrow  rather  than  with  the  miner's  pick  and 
shovel.  The  western  part  of  Nebraska  and  the  eastern  and 
southern  part  of  South  Dakota,  where  the  soil  is  capable  of 
producing  good  crops  under  the  so-called  dry-farming  system, 
are  being  rapidly  taken  up  by  filing  new  homesteads,  and 
also  by  buying  out  "relinquishments" — that  is,  the  farms  of 
homesteaders  who  have  failed  or  are  dissatisfied  or  have 
become  restless  for  any  reason  and  have  decided  to  move 
on.  Many  of  the  original  locators  were  not  practical  farmers1 
many  more  lacked  the  energy  and  the  patience  to  succeed  in 
"dry  farming";  but  the  demand  for  land  has  increased  so 
much  that  they  are  now  able  to  sell  claims  of  160  acres 
which  cost  them  nothing,  all  the  way  from  $500  to  $1,500, 
according  to  their  locations  and  the  character  of  the  soil. 
The  character  of  the  people  that  have  been  coming  into 
this  country  is  indicated  very  plainly  by  the  homes  and 


churches  and  schools  we  see  in  the  towns.  The  people  of  the 
Black  Hills  boast  a  great  deal  about  their  schoolhouses,  and 
with  good  reason.  There  is  a  great  deal  of  rivalry  in  that 
line.  No  community  in  the  country  or  in  the  world,  for  that 
matter,  has  better  buildings,  more  competent  teachers  or  a 
higher  standard  of  instruction.  They  tell  me  here  that  the 
certificates  of  the  high  schools  in  nearly  every  town  in  the 
Black  Hills  are  accepted  by  eastern  colleges  as  equivalent 
to  an  examination  for  admission.  There  is  a  compulsory 
education  law  which  is  strictly  enforced.  * 

A  school  of  mines  at  Rapid  City  has  a  high  reputation 
and  furnishes  an  opportunity  for  the  young  men  of  the  Black 
Hills  to  qualify  themselves  for  the  most  profitable  profession 
in  this  part  of  the  country.  There  are  three  buildings  of 
pressed  brick  with  sandstone  trimmings,  surrounded  by  a 
campus  of  ten  acres,  one  of  them  being  devoted  to  mining 
and  metallurgy,  another  to  chemistry  and  a  third  to  physics 
-and  engineering.  They  are  all  equipped  with  modern  labora- 
tories and  apparatus,  and  in  the  mining  department  is  a 
miniature  reduction  plant,  with  a  small  smelter,  an  ore 
roaster,  a  stamp  mill  and  cyanide  works,  where  the  students 
can  obtain  practical  experience.  The  mining  course  covers 
three  years.  The  course  of  physics  and  engineering  four 
years,  and  the  graduates  of  the  institution  have  given  it 
a  most  excellent  reputation. 

There  wasn't  much  use  for  churches  in  the  Black  Hills 
a  few  years  ago,  although  a  religious  organization  was  formed 
by  the  Congregationalists  in  the  fall  of  1876,  the  first  year  that 
the  country  was  opened  to  settlement,  and  they  built  a  house 
of  worship  in  1877.  The  Methodists  and  the  Catholics  came 
in  1877,  and  now  all  of  the  denominations  are  represented 
and  religious  worship  and  Sunday  schools  are  quite  as  numer- 
ous as  they  are  in  Massachusetts  or  Connecticut,  and  are  as 
well  attended.  ****** 


New  Dry  Farm  Law  Held  Boon  to  "West 

Homesteader  Allowed  to  Enter  320  Acres  by 
Recent  Act  of   Congress. 

CROPS  EVERY  OTHER  YEAR 

William  E.  Curtis  Explains  Need  of  Accumula- 
tion of  Moisture  Two  Seasons. 

LUSK,  WYO.,  July  31,1900 — "Dry  farming"  is  a  term 
applied  to  the  thorough  and  scientific  cultivation  of  the  soil 
of  the  semi-arid  region  between  the  Missouri  River  and  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  where  the  rainfall  is  less  than  eighteen 
inches  annually.  The  public  lands,  where  there  is  moisture 
enough  for  ordinary  farming,  have  practically  all  been  taken 
up,  but  there  is  still  an  enormous  area  of  unoccupied  public 
domain  which,  until  recent  years,  was  considered  worthless 
except  for  pasture.  But  patience,  intelligence  and  industry 
have  been  able  to  produce  from  that  dry  soil  crops  of  grain 
and  vegetables  equal  in  quantity,  and  many  think  superior  in 
quality,  to  those  produced  either  by  ordinary  methods  of 
cultivation  or  by  irrigation.  Indeed,  it  is  contended,  that 
all  of  the  products  of  dry  farming,  particularly  early  potatoes 
and  grain,  have  a  higher  value  in  nutriment  because  they 
contain  less  moisture  than  those  grown  either  under  an 
abundant  rainfall  or  irrigation. 

Thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  land-hungry  people, 
chiefly  the  overflow  of  the  agricultural  states  of  the  central 
west,  are  going  out  'into  the  Dakotas,  Nebraska,  Wyoming, 
Colorado,  Utah,  and  other  sections  of  the  semi-arid  belt 
entering  homesteads  or  buying  lands  and  establishing  homes, 
and  taking  their  chances  for  success  in  dry  farming.  Most 
of  them  succeed;  many  fail.  The  reasons  for  success  and 
for  failure  are  equally  apparent,  and  men  of  experience  can 
explain  the  causes  in  every  case. 


The  land  laws  of  the  United  States  were  amended  at  the 
recent  session  of  Congress,  so  that  a  homesteader  can  now 
enter  320  acres  of  dry  land,  instead  of  160  acres  as  before, 
because  all  authorities  agree  that  it  is  difficult  if  not  impos- 
sible for  any  farmer  to  make  a  living  upon  less,  the  funda- 
mental principle  of  that  method  which  brings  success  being 
to  cultivate  the  soil  thoroughly  every  year,  and  to  crop  it 
every  other  year,  That  is,  to  allow  the  moisture  of  two 
successive  years  to  become  absorbed  in  the  soil  before  the 
seed  is  planted. 

Doctors  differ  on  every  subject.  There  is  ro  point 
upon  which  everybody  agrees.  There  is  a  difference  of 
opinion  even  as  to  the  way  of  salvation;  and  the  authorities 
on  agricultural  science  vary  somewhat  in  their  recommenda- 
tions, but  there  is  certainly  no  lack  of  instruction,  and  the 
dry  farmer  who  fails  cannot  shift  the  responsibility  upon 
other  shoulders  than  his  own.  The  educational  wsrk  that 
is  now  going  on  among  the  farmers  of  the  United  States  is  so 
complete  and  comprehensive  that  it  would  seem  impossible 
that  anyone  should  go  wrong.  The  Agricultural  Depart- 
ment at  Washington  under  that  grand  old  Scotchman, 
James  Wilson,  has  done  more  to  educate  and  improve  the 
states  than  all  other  forces  combined,  and  has  not  failed  to 
furnish  instruction  and  admonition  upon  every  question 
that  can  possibly  arise  in  the  experience  of  the  American 
farmer.  In  every  state  there  is  a  board  of  agriculture  to 
supplement  the  work  of  the  National  Government;  there 
are  organizations — state,  county  and  township — of  farmers 
that  concern  themselves  with  every  branch  of  the  industry; 
there  are  national  organizations  which  hold  conventions 
annually  and  oftener.  ***** 

Farmers'  institutes  everywhere  in  this  section  are 
making  a  specialty  of  dry  farming;  the  Agricultural  Depart- 
ment at  Washington  has  several  experimental  stations  in 
each  arid  state,  at  which  a  great  work  is  being  carried  on. 
The  hundreds  of  agricultural  papers  publish  results  which 
have  been  accomplished  and  furnish  information,  instruction 
and  advice.  The  railways  which  run  through  dry-farming 
territory  have  special  agents  traveling  about  delivering 
lectures  to  the  public  and  visiting  the  farmers  privately  in 
order  to  encourage  them  in  their  work  and  to  insure  good 
crops  as  far  as  possible,  and  I  met  on  the  cars  to-day  Dr. 
E.  W.  Hunt,  formerly  professor  in  the  University  of 
Nebraska,  who  is  spending  his  entire  time  traveling  from 
village  to  village  and  from  farm  to  farm  in  this  part  of 
the  country  teaching  the  people  how  to  get  the  best  results 
from  their  soil  and  their  labor. 

"I  don't  like  the  term  'dry  farming,'  "  said  Dr.  Hunt. 
"It  frightens  people  off  and  has  cost  us  many  valuable 
settlers.  It  ought  to  be  called  'common  sense  farming,' 
'sensible  farming,'  'scientific  farming,'  or  by  any  other  form 
of  expression  that  can  be  found  to  describe  a  faithful  observ- 
ance of  the  laws  of  nature  which  is  necessary  to  cultivate 
wet  ground  as  well  as  dry  ground. 

"In  western  Nebraska  we  have  an  annual  average  of 
seventeen  inches  rainfall  and  75  per  cent  of  it  comes  in  the 
growing  season.  That  is  enough  to  mature  any  crop  if 
taken  care  of  properly;  and  the  best  method  is  for  a  farmer 
to  divide  his  land  in  two  parts,  cultivating  the  soil  that  he 
wants  to  plant  thoroughly  every  year,  but  allowing  one-half 
to  lie  fallow  every  alternate  year  in  order  that  the  moisture 
of  the  two  seasons  may  accumulate. 

"In  the  second  place,  by  deep  plowing  in  the  fall,  to 
create  a  water-holding  reservoir  under  the  surface,  and  in 
the  spring  to  prevent  evaporation  by  shallow  surface  culti- 
vation. The  soil  should  be  covered  with  a  pulverized  dust 
to  be  kept  loose  with  harrows,  and  after  the  plants  begin  to 
show,  the  ground  between  the  rows  should  be  continually 
cultivated  to  keep  down  the  weeds  and  allow  the  moisture 
to  reach  the  roots. 

"As  one  goes  farther  west  the  moisture  becomes  less 
and  less  and  methods  of  cultivation  have  to  be  modified 
accordingly,  but  the  main  point  is  for  every  farmer  to  find 
out  the  natural  laws  governing  the  territory  in  which  he 
lives  and  to  work  in  harmony  with  them.  The  great  trouble, 


42 


however,  is  that  so  many  farmers  have  their  own  ideas  and 
theories  and  insist  upon  working  them  out  regardless  of  the 
experience  and  the  knowledge  of  others.  Many  insist  upon 
farming  on  horseback  or  in  a  sulky;  others  farm  by  the  moon; 
some  of  the  farms  are  too  large  and  the  owners  put  on  a 
hundred  acres  the  labor  and  attention  that  they  should  put 
on  twenty-five.  In  my  travels  about  this  country  I  find 
many  farmers  who  are  trying  to  farm  300  acres  with  the 
labor  and  equipment  that  would  be  required  for  fifty." 

"How  much  land  should  a  dry  farmer  have?"  I  asked. 

"Not  an  acre  less  than  a  half-section,  which  is  320 
acres,  and  that  is  sufficient  for  one  man  with  all  the  help 
he  can  get  in  the  present  state  of  the  labor  market.  And 
we  must  come  to  farms  of  that  size  in  this  section  and  care- 
ful, thorough,  intelligent  tillage  or  this  country  will  not 
prosper. 

"Ultimately  the  wealth  of  this  section  of  the  country 
will  come  from  cows  and  hogs — butter  and  poultry.  The 
man  who  sells  butter  fat  off  a  farm  takes  nothing  from  it,  but 
adds  to  it  all  the  time;  and  the  most  profitable  use  that  can 
be  made  of  corn,  alfalfa  and  other  products  of  this  zone  is 
to  consume  them  where  they  grow  and  ship  them  to  market 
in  the  shape  of  pork. 

"The  land  in  western  Nebraska  is  now  in  the  hands  of 
large  holders,  who  are  offering  it  for  sale  all  the  way  from 
$10  to  $45  an  acre.  Good  enough  land  can  be  bought  from 
$10  to  $20  an  acre  on  easy  terms,  but  every  purchaser 
should  buy  not  less  than  320  acres,  keeping  one-half  for  pas- 
ture and  putting  the  rest  under  the  plow.  He  will  make 
his  best  money  by  sending  cream  to  the  creameries  and  feed- 
ing his  skimmed  milk  to  his  pigs,  mixed  with  corn  and  alfalfa. 
The  demand  for  butter  fat  is  unlimited,  and  it  never  sells 
less  than  20  cents  a  pound,  while  there  is  an  equal  demand 
for  poultry  and  eggs.  There  is  no  regular  market  organized 
for  either  in  this  section  of  the  state,  but  both  are  shipped 
to  Omaha  and  Denver  and  as  far  as  Seattle.  Those  cities 
will  absorb  all  the  chickens  and  eggs  we  can  raise.  This 
climate  and  altitude  are  especially  adapted  for  poultry. 
We  are  not  troubled  with  the  diseases  and  the  vermin  that 
are  found  elsewhere." 

H.  B.  Card  of  Manville,  Wyo.,  has  been  living  in  this 
locality  thirty-one  years  and  has  been  dry  farming  for 
fifteen  years,  and  when  I  asked  him  about  his  experience 
he  said: 

"Dry  farming  out  here  is  very  much  like  ordinary 
farming  back  in  the  states  where  they  'summer  fallow' — 
that  is,  plant  every  other  year,  but  cultivate  every  year. 
We  harrow  three  or  four  times  a  year  and  plow  as  deep  as 
we  can,  keeping  the  soil  pulverized  and  covering  the  sur- 
face with  a  'dust  blanket"  to  conserve  the  rainfall,  which 
will  average  fifteen  or  sixteen  inches  annually  and  usually 
comes  in  April,  May  and  June,  when  we  need  it  most. 

"This  rain,  instead  of  running  off  as  it  would  from  a 
roof,  is  absorbed  by  the  soil  and  held  in  an  underground 
reservoir  created  by  deep  plowing  and  held  by  a  strata  of 
hard  earth,  which  hasn't  been  disturbed  by  the  plow  and 
is  water-tight.  During  the  growing  period  the  roots  of  the 
plant  reach  down  to  this  moisture  and  suck  it  up,  and  there 
is  always  enough  there  for  turkey-red  wheat,  oats,  barley, 
rye,  alfalfa,  brome  grass,  potatoes  and  other  root  vegetables. 
No  section  of  the  country  that  I  know,  wet  or  dry,  rainfall 
or  irrigation,  can  beat  our  potatoes  or  our  oats." 

"How  much  land  should  a  man  want?" 

"A  successful  dry  farmer  must  have  double  the  area 
required  for  ordinary  farming: 

"i.  Because  there  is  a  great  deal  of  waste  land  in. this 
arid  region  that  cannot  be  cultivated  at  all. 

"2.  He  can't  crop  but  one-half  of  the  good  land  at 
any  time. 

"3.  A  wise  farmer  will  raise  cattle  and  horses  in  con- 
nection with  cultivating  the  soil  and  must  have  pasture 
for  them. 


"No  man  can  succeed  in  farming  in  this  part  of  the 
country  on  less  than  320  acres.  That  is  necessary  to  make 
a  living. 

"Immigrants  are  coming  into  this  section  very  rapidly. 
Five  hundred  homesteads  were  filed  last  year  in  the  vicinity 
of  Lusk,  which  is  one  of  the  first  stations  on  the  North 
Western  Railway  west  of  the  Wyoming  boundary.  They 
are  nearly  all  from  Iowa,  Indiana  and  Nebraska,  with  a  few 
from  Missouri  and  Illinois.  Many  of  them  are  sons  of 
farmers  from  those  states  who  have  come  out  here  to  start 
for  themselves.  There  is  a  sprinkling  of  clerks  and  mechanics, 
"A  percentage  of  the  immigrants  will  be  dissatisfied  be- 
cause they  are  not  practical  farmers,"  continued  Mr.  Card. 
Others  fail  because  they  are  lazy  or  indifferent.  You 
cannot  make  it  too  plain  or  too  emphatic  that  dry  farming 
is  a  business  that  requires  the  highest  degree  of  patience, 
labor,  industry  and  intelligence,  and  it  is  a  public  duty  to 
warn  everybody  who  is  not  supplied  with  that  sort  of  capital 
to  go  into  some  other  business.  WILLIAM  E.  CURTIS. 


Wyoming  to  Provide  Farms  for  1,000,000 

Fifty     Irrigation     Projects,     Under     Way,     Will 
Dethrone  King  of  Sagebrush 

U.  S.  AIDS  IN  RECLAMATION 


The  area  of  Wyoming  is  62,000,000  acres,  and 
approximately  40,000,000  is  grazing  land,  which  cannot  be 
cultivated  with  profit  either  by  dry  farming  or  irrigation. 
The  forest  reserves  include  9,000,000  acres.  About  6,000,000 
acres  can  be  irrigated  and  about  as  much  more  can  profitably 
be  farmed  without  artificial  moisture  by  dry  farming.  The 
limits  have  been  approximately  established  by  the  United 
States  Weather  Bureau.  Wherever  the  average  annual 
rainfall  exceeds  ten  inches  and  sagebrush  will  grow,  it  is 
possible,  by  cultivating  the  soil  thoroughly  every  year  and 
planting  crops  every  other  year,  to  raise  grain,  potatoes, 
alfalfa,  field  peas  and  other  staples  suitable  to  this  climate, 
except  corn,  where  the  altitude  is  not  higher  than  7,000  feet 
above  the  sea. 

No  state  except  Idaho  has  undertaken  the  redemption 
of  its  arid  land  with  such  energy  and  intelligence  as  Wyo- 
ming, and  more  than  fifty  different  companies  and  individuals 
are  now  engaged  in  building  irrigation  systems  which  ought 
to  provide  homes  for  twice  the  present  population  of  the 
state.  The  Government  of  the  United  States  is  spending 
millions  of  dollars  on  several  large  works,  a  portion  of  which 
have  been  completed,  and  the  state  Government,  under  an 
act  of  Congress  introduced  by  J.  M.  Carey  of  Cheyenne, 
when  he  represented  Wyoming  in  the  United  States -Senate, 
has  entered  into  contracts  with  private  corporations  for  the 
redemption  of  nearly  2,000,000  acres  of  arid  lands,  which  it 
has  been  permitted  to  segregate  for  development  and  settle- 
ment. Fully  800,000  acres  are  in  actual  process  of  recla- 
mation under  the  Carey  Act  in  Wyoming  at  the  present  time. 
And  if  you  want  to  know  more  about  it,  write  to  the 
Department  of  Agriculture,  Washington,  D.  C.,  for  Bulletin 
No.  205,  prepared  by  Clarence  T.  Johnston,  state 
engineer  under  the  direction  of  Samuel  Fortier,  chief 
of  irrigation  investigations.  Or  you  can  write  to  Robert  T. 
Fuller,  commissioner  of  public  lands,  Cheyenne,  Wyo.,  fora 
copy  of  his  recent  report. 

Mr.  Fuller  kindly  explained  to  me  the  process  of  acquir- 
ing lands  under  the  Carey  Act,  as  follows: 

"The  company  proposing  such  developments  first  makes 
a  survey  and  plans  for  the  work  which  are  inspected  and 
must  be  approved  by  the  state  engineer;  and  are  submitted 
with  an  application  to  the  "state  board  of  land  commissioners, 


43 


which  is  composed  of  the  governor,  the  secretary  of  state  and 
the  superintendent  of  public  instruction.  The  application 
must  describe  the  lands  that  are  to  be  irrigated,  the  prices  to 
be  charged  for  water  rights,  the  form  of  contract  to  be  used 
and  other  particulars.  If  the  state  board  approves  of  the 
application,  it  is  submitted  with  recommendations  to  the 
general  land  office  at  Washington,  where,  upon  the  approval 
of  the  Secretary  of  Interior,  the  lands  designated  are  with- 
drawn from  entry  and  placed  in  control  of  the  state. 

"The  work  of  constructing  the  irrigation  plant  is  done 
under  the  inspection  of  the  state  engineer,  who  requires  a 
system  of  canals  or  reservoirs  sufficient  in  capacity  to  furnish 
water  for  the  reclamation  of  the  segregated  lands,  which  are 
then  sold  to  actual  settlers  at  a  specified  price,  based  upon 
the  cost  of  construction  of  the  project,  but  not  to  exceed 
$50  per  acre.  This  maximum  price  is  allowed  for  expensive 
construction  of  the  first  class.  Any  form  of  construction 
might  be  made  expensive,  but  if  it  is  not  made  of  concrete 
and  steel,  it  would  not  be  considered  first  class.  Small 
canals  of  a  co-operative  nature  have  sold  water  for  Carey  act 
lands  as  low  as  $10  per  acre  in  parts  of  the  state  remote  from 
the  railroad. 

"The  company  is  not  allowed  to  require  more  than  one- 
fourth  of  the  price  in  advance,  but  may  take  such  lesser 
amount  as  the  settler  may  be  able  to  pay  satisfactory  to  the 
company,  with  interest  not  to  exceed  8  per  cent  per  annum, 
and  usually  6  per  cent.  All  of  the  works  are  carried  on  under 
the  inspection  of  the  state  engineer,  who  requires  specifica- 
tions as  to  construction  in  advance,  which  must  be  approved 
by  him  before  the  state  will  enter  into  contract. 

"Sales  of  land  to  settlers  are  also  conducted  under  the 
supervision  of  the  commissioner  of  public  lands,  so  that  the 
settler  is  protected  as  securely  as  he  is  under  the  reclamation 
act  of  the  National  Government. 

"The  state  land  board  requires  as  a  condition  of  a  con- 
tract that  the  company  shall  not  accept  money  from  settlers 
for  water  rights  until  their  project  is  completed,  unless  the 
contracts,  the  money  paid  thereon  and  other  evidences  of 
indebtedness  are  deposited  in  escrow  in  some  bank  to  be 
agreed  upon,  there  to  be  held  until  the  water  contracted  for 
is  ready  for  delivery.  Every  precaution  is  taken  by  the 
state  authorities  to  protect  the  settler." 

"How  much  of  the  2,000,000  acres  has  been  taken  up 
under  the  Carey  Act?"  I  asked. 

"A  little  over  1,000,000  acres  have  been  applied  for,  by 
about  fifty  different  companies.  Some  of  them  have  been 
foreign,  but  the  state  now  requires  that  all  contracting  com- 
panies shall  be  incorporated  under  the  laws  of  Wyoming." 

The  irrigation  map  of  Wyoming  is  covered  with  dark 
Spots  showing  the  lands  that  have  been  withdrawn  from 
settlement  for  this  purpose  and  sooner  or  later  will  be  opened 
to  settlement  with  plenty  of  water  for  every  kind  of  crop  or 


fruit.  The  rivers  of  Wyoming  are  large  and  numerous 
enough  to  furnish  an  abundant  supply  of  moisture  for  all 
the  land  that  can  possibly  be  cultivated,  while  the  construc- 
tion of  storage  works  and  reservoirs  will  prevent  the  terrible 
waste  of  water  and  the  destructive  floods  that  occur  every 
spring  when  the  mountain  snows  are  suddenly  exposed  to 
the  hot  sun.  When  these  works  are  completed,  the  floods 
will  not  only  be  restrained  from  committing  the  damage 
that  has  occurred  annually,  but  the  water  will  be  available 
during  the  dry  months  when  it  is  needed  for  the  crops. 
*  *  ***** 

C.  W.  Williams,  state  commissioner  of  immigration, 
is  now  at  Lander  making  a  tour  of  all  the  counties  for  the 
purpose  of  informing  himself  as  to  conditions  and  resources, 
so  that  he  may  intelligently  perform  the  duties  of  his  office, 
which  has  been  newly  created. 

"There  has  never  been  any  serious  attempt  on  the  part 
of  the  authorities  of  Wyoming  to  induce  immigration,"  said 
Mr.  Williams.  "There  has  been  a  bureau  of  immigration, 
consisting  of  three  officials,  but  they  never  gave  much  atten- 
tion to  the  subject  until  three  months  ago,  when  they 
appointed  me  a  commissioner  with  an  allowance  for  printing 
and  advertising  and  authorized  me  to  visit  all  parts  of  the 
state  to  inform  myself  so  that  I  can  give  information  and 
advice." 

"The  mineral  resources  of  the  state  have  a  great  variety, 
and  their  development  hasn't  yet  been  begun.  We  have 
thousands  of  square  miles  of  mineral  country  that  has  never 
been  explored.  We  have  mountains  of  iron,  beds  of  coal, 
petroleum,  asphaltum,  asbestos  and  all  of  the  precious 
metals,  while  prospectors  are  constantly  discovering  new 
metals  that  we  do  not  know  anything  about. 

"In  agriculture  we  can  raise  anything  but  cotton  and 
corn.  Wheat  and  other  grains,  alfalfa  and  hay,  potatoes 
and  other  root  crops,  fruits  of  all  kinds  and  berries  will  grow 
both  under  dry  farming  and  irrigation,  and  there  are  now 
about  fifty  reclamation  projects  under  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment and  the  Carey  Act,  already  in  progress,  that  will  sus- 
tain a  million  or  more  people  whom  we  are  inviting  to  come 
and  take  free  homes." 

"How  are  you  going  to  induce  them  to  come?" 

"By  making  known  the  advantages  of  Wyoming," 
said  Mr.  Williams.  "I  am  preparing  a  book  that  will  describe 
the  varied  resources  of  the  state  and  the  methods  by  which 
a  newcomer  can  obtain  a  farm  and  a  home.  We  will  also 
publish  sectional  pamphlets  covering  the  several  counties  of 
the  state  with  their  different  conditions  and  resources  and 
the  opportunities  they  offer  for  settlers.  We  will  have  a 
pamphlet  describing  the  workings  of  the  Carey  Act  for 
investors  as  well  as  for  homeseekers.  We  are  preparing 
mineral  reports  also  and  will  set  up  an  exhibit  showing  the 
resources  of  the  state  to  be  sent  as  an  object  lesson." 

WILLIAM  E.  CURTIS. 


The  Men  Who  Have  Tried  It 

What  They  Say  of  the  West 


Testimonials    from     Men     Who     Have 
Made  Money  on  South  Dakota  Farms 

Am  one  of  the  old  timers  in  the  Elm  Springs  country. 
I  disced  my  wheat  for  eight  years  straight,  and  have  har- 
vested over  twenty  bushels  to  the  acre  as  an  average.  Cli- 
mate is  fine,  water  fine,  and  the  country  suits  me  to  perfec- 
tion. For  the  benefit  of  the  newcomer  seeking  a  home,  I 
will  say,  "Get  a  South  Dakota  farm,  and  stay  with  it." 

JOHN  ASHEIM. 
Elm  Springs,  South  Dakota. 


BELLE  FOURCHE,  S.D. 

I  have  farmed  this  year  for  the  first  time  under  the  new 
Belle  Fourche  project  and  can  demonstrate  practically  the 
correctness  of  my  firm  belief  in  the  great  agricultural  possi- 
bilities of  irrigated  lands  in  western  South  Dakota.  Oats 
that  will  make  80  bu.  with  one  irrigation  and  corn  and  pota- 
toes looking  fine  after  six  weeks  of  steady  drouth  (so  far  as 
rainfall  is  concerned)  can  be  seen  on  my  ranch,  demonstrating 
conclusively  that  the  most  sanguine  expectations  of  settlers 
will  be  realized  and  that  $100  land  is  no  dream  of  the  future 
for  this  district,  for  we  can  get  big  interest  on  that  valuation 
the  first  year  of  irrigating.  DR.  F.  E.  TOWNSEND. 


44 


As  a  renter  on  160  acres  of  irrigated  land  in  the  Belle 
Fourche  valley  within  one  mile  of  three  of  the  present  gov- 
ernment ditches,  I  have  raised  garden  truck  enough  to  pay 
all  my  living  expenses  and  hired  help,  while  putting  up  -five 
hundred  ions  of  hay  and  caring  for  the  usual  acreage  of  corn 
and  potatoes.  I  received  ore-half  of  the  crop  and  paid  one- 
half  of  the  water  rent  of  $75,  or  $37-5°  for  my  share.  I 
hauled  some  of  the  hay  directly  fr  om  the  windrow  to  market 
getting  $10  per  ton.  The  hay  stacked  in  the  field  with 
machinery  was  sold  in  the  stack  to  cattlemen  for  $5 
per  ton,  or  baled  and  sold  in  the  mining  camps  at  $10  to  $13 

per  ton,  during  the  winter  season. 

J.  H.  WILKINSON. 

I  came  to  Butte  County  in  1883  without  means  and 
hired  out  to  work  on  a  farm.  In  1889  I  bought  a  farm  of 
1 60  acres  under  the  Red  water  canal  upon  which  I  have  since 
resided.  I  have  found  that  all  kinds  of  crops  do  remark- 
ably well  under  irrigation.  I  have  a  good  orchard  in  bearing 
for  many  years,  the  trees  being  loaded  to  the  ground  with 
fruit  this  year.  I  am  also  engaged  in  raising  stock  and  run 
them  on  the  range  during  the  summer  season.  My  farm  is 
located  near  the  government  irrigation  project. 

WM.  MATTHEW. 

SNOMA,  S.  D.,  Aug.  14,  1908. 

I  have  land  under  the  government  ditch,  also  under  the 
Redwater  canal.  I  have  farmed  under  the  Redwater  canal 
for  the  past  fifteen  years  and  never  had  a  crop  failure.  I  am 
engaged  in  farming  and  stock-raising.  I  have  never  grown 
less  than  40  bushels  of  oats  per  acre,  and  from  that  up  to 
100  bushels  per  acre.  My  wheat  this  year  without  irrigation 
will  go  30  bushels  an  acre  and  my  wheat  partly  under 
irrigation  will  average  30  bushels  per  acre.  Any  man 
willing  to  work  will  have  no  difficulty  in  making  a  success 
of  farming  under  irrigation. 

HANS  GRIMSBO. 

I  am  in  receipt  of  your  letter,  asking  me  to  send  you  the 
number  of  acres  that  I  have  sown  to  alfalfa  and  the  returns 
from  my  alfalfa  crop  the  past  season.  The  same  is  given 
below. 

Total  number  of  acres  sown  to  alfalfa,  30. 

Number  of  acres  harvested  for  seed,  22. 

I  harvested  180  bushels  alfalfa  seed,  sold  at    • 

$6  per  bushel $1,080.00 

Cut  70  tons  from  first  cutting,  worth  $8  per  ton       560 .  oo 


Total  amount $1,640.00 

An  average  return  per  acre  of  $74.55. 

From  one  tract  of  5  acres  I  harvested  60  bushels. 
Viewfield,  South  Dakota.  H.  >C.  JUDSON. 

I  have  resided  on  my  homestead  in  Stanley  County  three 
years;  have  grown  nearly  everything  in  the  way  of  crops  and 
vegetables  that  they  grow  anywhere  else  with  good  success — 
blue  stem  wheat  yielding  15  bushels  per  acre  on  sod, 
potatoes,  125  bushels  per  acre,  second  year.  Am  milking 
from  fifteen  to  twenty  cows;  which,  in  my  opinion,  every- 
body on  this  side  of  the  Missouri  River  should  do.  We  have 
daily  mail,  'phone  in  the  house,  and  think  we're  about  as 
well  off  as  anybody  on  earth. 

J.  P.  PETERSEN. 
Midland,  South  Dakota. 

I  came  to  South  Dakota  in  1880,  from  Earlville,  111., 
and  settled  in  Spink  County  after  making  a  filing  on  a  home- 
stead. I  had  sixteen  dollars  in  cash;  with  this  capital  I 
commenced  farming.  I  have  been  engaged  in  general  farm- 
ing and  stock-raising.  I  consider  that  I  have  been  successful, 
asftl  now  own  a  well-improved  farm  a  mile  from  Redfield' 
South  Dakota,  which  I  would  not  sell  for  less  than  $72,000. 
I  could  not  sell  at  this  price,  but  I  consider  it  is  worth  that 
amount  to  me,  and  I  could  not  invest  in  any  other  state  and 
do  as  well.  The  receipts  from  my  share  of  the  crop  raised 
this  year  and  last  have  been  $10,000,  the  majority  of  the 
land  being  rented.  I  consider  South  Dakota  the  best  country 
I  have  ever  been  in  to  make  money  in  farming,  stock-raising 
and  feeding.  I  have  made  good  money  every  year  of  the  25 
years_I^have  lived  here.  I  consider  that  the  $i$o-acre  land 


in  Illinois  is  not  worth  two  acres  of  our  lands  and  Spink 
County  land   should  sell  at  $75  or  $80  to  reach  its  real  value. 
I  am,  yours  very  truly, 

AUGUST  BRUELL. 

When  in  March,  twenty-two  years  ago,  I  landed  in  Pierre 
I  had  one  round  dollar  in  cash,  and  the  rest  of  my  property 
was  a  carload  of  tools,  old  horses,  vegetables,  worth,  alto- 
gether, say  a  couple  of  hundred  dollars.  My  first  move  was 
to  sell  a  bushel  of  onions  I  had  along,  increasing  my  ready 
money  to  two  dollars  and  a  half.  We  have  had  good  success 
in  South  Dakota;  we  have  nine  quarter- sections  of  land  in 
SullyJCounty,  watered  and  well  improved,  worth  $21,600. 
This  is  mighty  good  country  for  mixed  farming  and  for 
stock-raising. 
Pierre,  South  Dakota.  NORVAL  BLAIR. 

I  came  to  Dakota  in  1883,  with  $5  in  my  pocket  and  no 
farm  experience.  I  have  done  very  well.  Last  year  I  sold 
184  steers,  receiving  for  them  $8,648.  I  have  1,900  acres 
fenced.  I  had  about  5  on  tons  of  hay  and  millet  to  begin 
the  winter  and  enough  cattle  and  horses  to  eat  it,  and^I.do 
not  owe  a  dollar.  i.Very  truly  yours, 

Blunt,  South  Dakota.  JIM  RYAN. 

Dry-Farming  Testimonials    from   Wyo- 
ming Farmers 

The  following  testimonials  not  only  show  what  kind  of 
crops  are  being  produced  by  those  who  have  made  use  of 
dry-farming  methods,  but  they  also  indicate,  to  a  certain 
extent,  the  methods  that  have  proven  most  successful. 

A.  Christian,  Sr.,  Converse  County:  Has  been  farming 
twenty  years  on  250  acres,  the  rain  coming  mostly  in  May, 
and  the  annual  amount  averaging  12.76  inches,  while  in  May 
alone  8.6  inches  of  rain  fell.  Plows  in  spring  as  deeply  as 
possible,  using  four-horse  plows  and  harrows  entirely,  seeding 
with  heavy  press  drills.  His  yields  have  been:  wheat,  18 
bushels;  oats,  30;  barley,  28;  potatoes,  75  to  200  bushels, 
with  spelt  and  alfalfa  grown  for  hay. 

P.  G.  Christensen,  Weston  County:  Has  been  engaged 
in  dry  farming  thirteen  years,  on  125  acres.  Rainfall  about 
ten  inches,  which  come  mostly  in  May  and  June.  Plows  in 
spring  eight  inches,  using  the  John  Deere  stag  plow,  disc 
harrow  and  drag  harrow,  rollers,  and  broadcast  seeder. 
Has  grown  oats,  wheat,  barley,  potatoes  and  garden  vege- 
tables. Yields  not  recorded.  Considers  dry  farming  profit- 
able and  that  the  farm  should  contain  320  acres.  Regards 
the  heavy  snows  of  winter  as  the  most  beneficial  agency  in 
dry  farming. 

Harry  Henderson,  Secretary  Board  of  Trade  Commission, 
Cheyenne,  Laramie  County:  Has  been  farming  three  years 
on  thirty  to  sixty  acres.  Rainfall  comes  mostly  in  May, 
June  and  July,  averaging  10.33  inches.  Plows  both  fall  and 
spring,  six  to  nine  inches  deep,  using  disc  and  smoothing 
harrow,  and  disc  drill,  and  harrows  the  growing  crop  twice. 
Yields  have  been  as  high  as  53  bushels  of  barley  and  33 
bushels  of  wheat.  Estimates  average  yield  of  barley  to  be 
25  bushels,  and  wheat  17.  Mr.  Henderson  would  recom- 
mend a  crop  every  alternate  year,  and  regards  intelligence 
as  the  most  important  agency  in  producing  good  crops. 
He  thinks  the  farm  ought  to  be  at  least  320  acres. 

F.  B.  Hamlin,  Lusk,  Wyo.  Thirteen  years  ago  I  came 
to  my  present  home  with  my  family  from  Iowa.  I  now  have 
720  acres  of  land  all  paid  for,  besides  2 5. head  of  horses,  24 
head  of  registered  Shorthorn  cattle,  wagons,  machinery,  etc. 

I  broke  twenty  acres  the  first  year  and  raised  22  bushels 
of  oats  per  acre  from  the  sod.  I  have  increased  my  plow 
land  and  have  this  year  250  acres  in  crop.  Had  a  fair  crop 
each  year;  never  a  failure.  Raised  one  year  over  7,000 
bushels  of  oats.  My  oats  have  averaged  30  to  50  bushels  per 
acre  for  the  thirteen  years  without  any  irrigation  whatever. 
I  have  never  attempted  the  so-called  dry  farming,  but  have 
used  the  same  method  as  in  Iowa. 

I  consider  farming  a  safe  and  profitable  investment. 
Timothy  and  alfalfa  both  do  well.  I  would  not  take  less 


45 


than  $23,000  for  my  property;  my  improvements  I  consider 
worth  $6,000.  One  year  my  plow  land  brought  me  $20  per 
acre.  We  can  produce  more  dollars  per  acre  one  year  with 
another  than  the  average  Iowa  farmer. 

From  the  State  Geologist 

CHEYENNE,  WYO.,  June  6,  1909. 

GENTLEMEN  •  In  reply  to  your  inquiry  I  wish  to  say  that  the 
land  tributary  to  Lusk,  Wyo.,  is  underlaid  with  a  soft  white 
rock  known  as  Tursary.  This  rock  is  spongy,  forming  a 
reservoir  which  holds  moisture,  and  as  the  soil  above  dries, 
it  will  draw  from  beneath. 

The  soil  is  largely  made  up  of  the  decomposition  of  this 
rock  and  decayed  vegetable  matter.  In  general  it  might 
be  classed  as  a  sandy  loam. 

The  Pleasant  Ridge  and  Manville  sections  have  been 
farmed  for  more  than  a  score  of  years  and  I  have  never  heard 
of  a  failure  in  either  place.  The  soil  conditions  must  be  the 
same  as  Lusk,  as  it  is  formed  from  the  same  source. 

I  have  been  here  for  five  years  and  there  has  been  no 
question  as  to  their  being  plenty  of  rain  and  snow  to  assure 
a  crop. 

I  do  not  believe  there  is  any  better  land  in  the  west  than 
the  land  set  aside  by  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
under  the  32o-acre  act.  Farming  methods  followed  around 
this  section  have  been  largely  the  same  as  in  Nebraska;  I 
believe  if  the  scientific  methods  of  Dr.  Cooke  were  followed 
by  the  farmers,  the  farmers  would  be  greatly  benefited  and 
there  would  be  no  danger  of  any  year  being  too  dry  for  the 
production  of  a  crop. 

Yours  very  truly, 
EDWIN  HALL,  State  Geologist. 

Testimonials  from  Well-to-do    Farmers 
of  Nebraska  Who  Started  with  Small 
Capital  and  Soon  Gained  Compe- 
tence and  Wealth 

RUSHVILLE,  NEB. 

I  came  to  Sheridan  County  from  Wisconsin  in  1889 
My  capital  did  not  exceed  $20  on  arriving  here.  I  now 
have  1,280  acres  of  land,  located  four  miles  southeast  of 
Rushville,  which  I  value  at  $20  per  acre;  150  head  of  live 
stock  and  all  the  equipment  necessary  to  carry  on  my  busi 
ness  in  first-class  shape.  For  the  past  nine  years,  I  have 
"raised  splendid  crops;  wheat  from  20  bushels  per  acre  up- 
ward; rye  from  16  to  35  bushels  per  acre;  corn  from  15  to 
40  bushels  per  acre;  potatoes  from  75  to  250  bushels  per 
acre  and  all  other  crops  proportionate.  One  year  my 
potatoes  netted  me  $87  per  acre  and  I  know  of  no  place 
where  a  man  can  make  money  faster  or  easier  than  farming 
in  Sheridan  County. 

Yours  respectfully, 

NED   STAMPER. 

GORDON,  NEB. 

All  that  I  can  say  for  myself  is  that  I  came  to  Sheridan 
County  in  December,  1884.  I  had  a  team,  wagon  and 
harness,  and  16  cents  in  money  when  I  arrived.  I  raised 
potatoes  and  got  a  few  head  of  cows. 

I  now  own  2,240  acres  of  land  and  370  head  of  cattle. 
I  purpose  to  raise  from  2,000  to  3,000  bushels  of  potatoes 
every  year.  My  income  from  farming  and  stock-raising 
has  been  from  $2,800  to  $4,200  for  the  past  four  years.  I 
can  make  more  money  off  160  acres  in  Sheridan  County 
raising  potatoes  than  any  farmer  in  the  corn  belt  of  Iowa  or 
Missouri  can  make  on  an  equal  number  af  acres  that  cost 
him  $50  per  acre. 

Here  you  can  buy  potato  land  for  $10  per  acre  and  one 
man  and  four  horses  will  tend  sixty  acres  of  potatoes  up  to 
digging  time. 

I  will  answer  any  letters  that  are  written  me  by  men 
who  wish  to  improve  their  condition  and  are  willing  to  work. 

A.  L.  DAVIS. 

RUSHVILLE,  NEB. 

Replying  to  your  letter  of  the  26th  inst.,  would  say  I 
moved  to  Sheridan  County,  Nebraska,  in  1890,  and  at  that 


time  was  possessed  of  nothing  except  the  ability  to  work.  I 
now  own  1,360  acres  of  as  fine  land  as  there  is  in  the  state, 
300  head  of  cattle,  27  head  of  good  horses,  $500  worth  of 
machinery.  For  the  past  six  years  I  have  raised  from 
3,000  to  4,000  bushels  per  year,  besides  much  other  produce- 
Last  year  I  raised  5,000  bushels  of  potatoes,  1,500  bushels 
of  wheat,  1,500  bushels  of  oats,  besides  $600  worth  of  other 
stuff.  I  would  not  now  take  $30,000  for  what  I  now  own 
in  Sheridan  County,  Nebraska.  I  live  eighteen  miles  north 
of  Rushville. 

Yours  truly, 

NICHOLAS  LEHMAN. 

ATKINSON,  NEB. 

I  have  been  engaged  exclusively  in  Holt  County  for 
five  years  and  can  truthfully  say  that  for  diversified  farming 
I  think  this  is  the  best  county  in  the  state. 

The  water  is  exceptionally  fine  and  can  be  procured  at 
from  ten  to  thirty  feet  according  to  location  in  the  county. 
The  dairy  business  is  fast  becoming  one  of  the  chief  interests 
and  a  man  with  160  acres  of  land  and  ten  cows  is  independent 
so  far  as  living  expenses  are  concerned. 

I  am  located  seven  miles  northeast  of  Atkinson,  a 
pushing  little  town  of  one  thousand  people.  This  town  and 
community  do  a  large  volume  of  business  and  its  transpor- 
tation facilities  are  well  looked  after  by  the  C.  &  N.  W.  Ry. 
Stock  loaded  here  in  the  evening  will  reach  Omaha  in  time 
for  the  morning  market. 

Land  can  still  be  bought  at  very  low  prices  considering 
the  many  advantages  which  it  offers.  M 

Yours  truly, 

THOMAS  J.  WILBURN. 

My  seven  years'  experience  of  diversified  farming  and 
stock-raising  in  Holt  County,  Nebraska. 

I  have  been  a  resident  of  Nebraska  since  1896  and 
during  all  this  time  have  been  engaged  or  interested  in 
farming  and  stock-raising.  Grains  of  all  kinds  can  be 
successfully  raised  here.  I  have  raised  fair  crops  of  corn, 
wheat,  oats,  rye,  spelt  and  of  tame  grasses,  alfalfa,  brome 
grass  and  clover.  I  have  20  acres  of  alfalfa  that  was  sowed 
four  years  ago.  After  the  first  year  it  has  produced  fair 
crops  of  hay,  the  last  year  the  first  cutting  made  about  25 
tons  of  hay,  worth  $8  per  ton;  $200.  The  second  crop  I  let 
go  to  seed.  It  threshed  out  38  bushels  of  good  seed,  worth 
$9  per  bushel,  $342;  20  tons  of  fodder  or  threshed  hay, 
worth  at  least  $2  per  ton  for  feed,  $40.  Total  value  of  hay 
and  seed  from  20  acres,  $582. 

I  have  40  acres  of  alfalfa  that  was  sowed  in  1905  and 
1906.  Twenty  acres  I  use  for  hog  pasture.  I  expect  to 
sow  100  acres  more  in  the  next  few  years.  I  also  threshed 
450  bushels  of  millet  seed  from  20  acres  and  50  bushels  of 
brome  grass  seed  from  10  acres. 

I  have  had  good  success  raising  hogs  here,  for  the  last 
four  years.  I  have  sold  from  $  1,000  to  $1,500  worth  each 
year.  Hogs  keep  free  from  disease  and  lice  and  are  thrifty 
and  fatten  fast  when  put  on  full  feed.  Hogs  are  quick 
money  makers. 

All  kinds  of  fruit  can  be  successfully  grown  here.  We 
have  raised  an  abundance  of  strawberries,  currants,  goose- 
berries and  cherries.  I  have  over  600  fruit  trees  planted, 
500  of  which  were  planted  the  last  two  years.  Last  year 
we  raised  about  four  bushels  of  peaches,  from  trees  planted 
four  years  ago.  Those  trees  are  full  of  blossom  buds  and  if 
they  will  not  winter  kill,  will  produce  a  large  crop  this  year. 
There  are  many  men  that  could  come  to  Holt  County,  buy 
some  of  the  good  cheap  lands  and  own  a  good  and  comfort- 
able home  and  have  it  paid  for  in  a  few  years.  The  same 
care  and  work  that  is  done  on  farms  in  other  prosperous 
states,  will  produce  good  crops  here. 

JACOB  ROCKE. 

GORDON,  NEB. 

In  answer  to  your  request  to  make  a  statement  as  to 
my  success  in  northwestern  Nebraska  during  the  last  few 
years,  I  submit  the  following  facts:  I  find  by  referring  to 
my  list  of  receipts  for  the  past  three  years  I  have  sold  $5,337 
worth  of  farm  produce  (in  this  I  have  not  included  any 
sa\es  of  live  stock).  During  this  time  I  have  farmed  an 


46 


averag?  of  240  acres,  a  large  part  of  which  has  been  devoted 
to  raising  forage  crops  for  cattle.  My  principal  income 
has  been  from  potatoes,  but  have,  of  course,  raised  corn  and 
wheat  besides.  I  wish  to  speak  particularly  of  a  field  of 
potatoes  which  I  raised  last  year.  I  bought  enough  new 
seed  to  plant  five  acres  and  gave  it  particular  attention. 
Last  fall  I  marketed  from  five  acres  a  few  pounds  more  than 
1,200  bushels,  besides  saving  enough  seed  of  that  variety 
for  this  year's  planting.  My  potatoes  all  sold  for  from  30  to 
38  cents  per  bushel  direct  from  the  field.  I  have  always 
invested  my  surplus  cash  in  land  and  cattle,  and  now  own 
960  acres  of  land,  120  head  of  cattle,  12  good  work  horses  and 
all  the  farming  implements,  wagons  and  carriage  necessary 
to  run  a  farm.  When  I  struck  Gordon,. Neb.,  six  years  ago, 
I  might  say  I  did  not  have  a  dollar.  , 

Yours  truly. 

CHARLES  ROBERTS. 

Testimonials  from  Those  who  Have 

Made  a  Success  on  Wisconsin 

and  North  Michigan  Farms 

John  G.  Bachhuber,  Juneau,  Wis.:  In  June,  1900,  I 
purchased!  from  the  Chicago  &  North  Western  Railway, 
some  land  in  Forrest  County  near  Wabeno,  Wis.  I  have 
seen  a  great  deal  of  timber  land  in  Wisconsin,  but  none 
that  can  compare  with  the  hardwood  timber  along  the  line 
of  the  railway  from  Gillett  north.  I  am  well  satisfied  and 
believe  it  a  good  investment. 

C.  F.  Waller,  Columbia,  Wis. :  I  came  to  Wisconsin  from 
Woodstock,  McHenry  County,  Illinois,  in  the  fall  of  1901, 
and  bought  120  acres  of  wild  land,  not  a  square  rod  of  which 
had  been  cleared,  for  which  I  paid  $12.50  per  acre. 

During  the  five  years  I  have  been  here,  I  have  cleared 
and  put  under  cultivation  70  acres  of  the  wild  land,  built  a 
good  house,  a  good  log  barn  with  stable  room  for  26  head  of 
cattle  and  four  horses.  I  have  22  head  of  cattle,  4  horses, 
a  full  equipment  of  farm  machinery  of  all  kinds,  and  all  paid 
for  but  the  farm.  If  I  can  do  as  well  for  the  next  two  years 
as  I  have  the  past  five,  I  will  have  my  farm  fully  paid  for. 
I  have  had  several  offers  for  my  farm  but  I  would  not  want 
to  sell  as  I  can  raise  as  good  crops  here  as  I  can  in  Illinois 
where  they  ask  from  $100  to  $125  an  acre.  I  will  be  glad 
at  any  time  to  show  my  home  to  anyone  who  may  be  looking 
for  a  place  in  which  to  make  a  home  and  can  heartily  recom- 
mend Wisconsin  to  any  who  wants  a  home  of  their  own. 

James  Tooley,  Eagle  River:  I  own  a  farm  of  176 
acres  three  and  one-half  miles  from  Eagle  River.  I  have 
60  acres  under  cultivation  and  80  cleared.  Have  lived  on 
my  farm  for  the  last  six  years,  and  for  the  last  three  the 
average  yearly  crops  were  as  follows:  Oats,  50  bushels  per 
acre;  hay,  i£  tons  per  acre,  potatoes,  300  bushels  and  ruta- 
bagas, 1,000  bushels.  Wheat  is  also  a  good  crop,  producing 
about  30  bushels  to  the  acre.  The  soil  is  partly  clay,  loam 
and  partly  sand  loam. 

Mike  Lillund,  Conover,  Wis.:  I  bought  80  acres  herein, 
July,  1902,  and  moved  on  my  land  with  my  family  the 
following  year,  and  built  a  house,  barn  and  other  buildings. 
The  land  is  what  is  known  as  cut-over  land,  with  some 
hardwood  timber  remaining.  I  am  able  to  raise  all  the 
different  crops  that  are  raised  anywhere  in  the  state,  with 
the  exception  of  corn,  and  I  believe  I  will  be  able  to  raise 
that  if  I  get  the  right  variety  to  plant.  I  am  well  satisfied 
with  my  location  as  the  climate  is  very  agreeable.  This 
locality  is  very  favorable  for  the  small  farmer,  from  the  fact 
that  he  can  always  find  plenty  of  work  in  the  mills  and 
lumber  camps  both  summer  and  winter,  at  the  time  when 
he  is  not  busy  on  the  farm.  We  have  good  roads  and  are 
only  three  miles  from  the  railroad  station. 

J.  A^Pearce,  jMarinette,  Wis.:  I  have  a  farm  of  120 
acres,  which  I  bought  three  years  ago.  The  first  year  I 
went  on  this  land  I  started  in  the  first  day  of  April  and 
cleared  enough  land  so  that  I  raised  600  bushels  of  potatoes 
and  enough  corn  to  feed  a  team  and  a  cow  the  following 


winter,  besides  vegetables  enough  for  ourselves.  I  now 
have  a  clearing  of  50  acres  and  have  raised  small  grain  and 
vegetables  of  all  kinds,  and  find  that  they  all  do  well. 

Any  man  that  will  come  here  with  energy  and  ambition 
can  make  himself  a  home,  and  in  a  short  time  will  become 
independent.  There  is  always  lots  of  work  to  be  had  in 
the  winter  time,  and  in  fact  all  the  year  round.  This  is  a 
very  healthy  climate  and  we  have  the  finest  water  that  a 
person  could  ask  for. 

Alfred  Brandow,  Antigo,  Wis.:  Before  coming  here  I 
was  a  farm  renter  in  Winnebago  County,  Wis.,  but  becoming 
tired  of  working  for  other  people  I  resolved  to  go  to  some 
place  where  I  could  get  a  foothold  on  cheap  land  and  work 
out  a  farm  of  my  own.  I  had  just  $250  when  I  came  here 
and  bought  80  acres  of  timber  land  in  Section  35,  Township 
31,  Range  10,  and  my  farm  to-day  is  worth  $3,000  and  is  all 
paid  for.  I  have  had  considerable  experience  in  farming 
and  I  never  saw  soil  that  would  average  better  than  this. 
I  have  raised  oats  that  run  6iJ  bushels  to  the  acre.  Hay 
runs  i  J-  tons  and  potatoes  200  bushels  to  the  acre.  I  have 
raised  winter  rye  that  harvested  27  bushels  to  the  acre. 

The  city  of  Antigo  furnishes  us  a  first-class  market  for 
all  of  our  wood,  logs,  bark,  and  farm  and  garden  products. 
We  get  good  water  at  from  ten  to  twenty  feet  deep.  We 
have  no  difficulty  in  raising  all  the  hay  and  grain  we  require 
for  feed  in  [winter,  and  our  grazing  land  is  exceptionally  good 

My  experience  is  that  dairying  and  stock-raising  is 
unusually  successful  in  this  country.  Our  winters  are  coldt 
but  we  have  the  shelter  of  the  timber,  so  that  stock  does  not 
suffer  in  the  least. 

J.  W.  Tilden,  Wausau,  Wis.:  Marathon  County  is 
unquestionably  one  of  the  finest  farming  sections  in  this 
state,  and  this  means  much,  as  it  has  become  an  established 
fact  that  Wisconsin  with  her  diversity  of  products  is  one  of 
the  very  best  in  the  Union. 

I  came  here  five  years  ago  and  purchased  a  farm  of  200 
acres.  I  find  that  the  hay  crop  especially,  per  acre,  far 
exceeds  the  yield  in  the  southern  part  of  the  state.  Timothy 
and  white  clover  seem  to  spring  into  existence  bountifully 
whenever  a  road  or  any  kind  of  an  opening  is  cut  through 
the  woods.  Another  advantage  is  that  we  have  the  wood 
products,  which  bring  us  good  returns  for  our  labor  in  the 
winter.  The  timber  is  principally  hardwood,  which  means 
good  soil. 

It  seems  to  me  that  a  man  looking  for  a  farm  as  a  home 
has  far  greater  opportunities  here  than  in  older  settled 
countries,  as  he  will  reap  the  benefits  oft the". increase  in  the 
price  of  land  which  is  as  sure  to  follow  as  the  day  follows 
night. 

This  country  is  well  watered,  climate  healthful,  good 
roads,  good  schools,  and  with  the  city  of  Wausau,  of  14,000 
population,  as  a  trade  center,  no  better  opportunities  are 
offered  anywhere. 

K.  C/Dayis,  Principal,  School  of  Agriculture,  Menomonie 
Wis.:  Northwestern  Wisconsin  is  well  adapted  to  sheep- 
raising.  The  climate  it  especially  favorable,  as  are  also 
other  conditions.  The  country  is  broken  and  hilly,  with 
timber  furnishing  abundant  shade.  Throughout  Dunn 
County  a  good  many  farmers  keep  sheep  successfully. 
The  grass  and  clover  grow  so  well  here  that  there  is  no  lack 
of  feed,  and  the  numerous  springs  through  this  section 
furnish  a'.very  fine  water  supply. 

This  section  of  the  state  is  pre-eminently  an  agricultural 
region.  It  is  suited  to  diversified  farming  and  that  is  what 
is  being  carried  on  to  a  great  extent. 

Dairying  is  a  rapidly  growing  industry  in  Dunn  County. 
And  with  the  dairying  has  come  greater  interest  in  pure- 
bred  stock.  Many  farmers  are  culling  out  their  herds  with 
a  view  to  keeping  better  stock  and  are  getting  in  the  pure 
blood. 

Hog-raising  is  also  a  very  profitable  branch  of  stock- 
raising.  Those  who  have  gone  into  the  business  find  they 
can  make  as  much  profit  from  hogs  as  from  the  dairy  cows. 


47 


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FULL   INFORMATION 

Concerning     Rates,     Routes,     Checking    of    Baggage,    etc.,    can    be     had    upon 

application  to  any  of  the  Representatives  of  The  North  "Western 

Line  whose  names  are  shown  below 

ANTIGO,  Wis. — M.  W.  HOLLISTER,  Traveling  Agent. 

BOSTON,  MASS  — 300  Washington  Street — J.  E.  BRITTAIN,  General  Agent. 

BUFFALO,  N.  Y. — 301  Main  Street  (Ellicott  Square) — H.  B.  LOUCKS,  JR.,  General  Agent. 

BOONE,  IOWA — A.  J.  CHEESEMAN,  Traveling  Agent. 

CEDAR  RAPIDS,  IOWA — M.  H.  RIZER,  Passenger  and  Ticket  Agent. 

CHADRON,  NEB. — E.  R.  BUTLER,  Traveling  Agent. 

CHICAGO,  ILL. — 212  Clark  Street,  City  Ticket  Office — H.  A.  GROSS.    General   Agent    Passenger 

Department. 

215  Jackson  Boulevard — J.  L.  FERGUSON,  Assistant  General  Passenger  and  Ticket  Agent; 

CLINTON  MCCULLOUGH,  Traveling  Agent. 

CINCINNATI,  01110—436  Walnut  Street — N.  M.  BREEZE,  General  Agent. 
CLEVELAND,  OHIO — 239  Superior  Avenue  N.  W. — A.  F.  CLEVELAND,  General  Agent. 
COUNCIL  BLUFFS,  IOWA — 522  Broadway,  City  Ticket  Office — J.  C.  MITCHE«.,  City  Passenger  and 

Freight  Agent. 

DEADWOOD,  S.  D. — E.  E.  BENJAMIN,  General  Agent. 

DENVER,  COLO. — 80 1  Seventeenth  Street — T.  S.  RATTLE   General  Agent. 
DBS  MOINES,  IOWA — 602  Walnut  Street,  City  Ticket  Office — C.  F.  MILEY,  General  Agent. 
DETROIT,  MICH. — 17  Campus  Martius — -W.  H.  GUERIN,  General  Agent  Passenger  Department. 
DULUTH,  MINN. — 302  West  Superior  Street,  City  Ticket  Office — A.  M.  FENTON,  District  Freight 

and  Passenger  Agent;  GEO.  M.  SMITH,  General  Agent. 
GREEN  BAY,  Wis. — E.  B.  DALY,  Traveling  Agent. 

HOUGHTON,  MICH. — Douglas  House  Block — C.  E.  WEBB,  General  Agent. 
HURON,  S.  D. — B.  F.  FARRELL,  Traveling  Agent. 

KANSAS  CITY,  Mo. — 823  Main  .Street — JAMES  J.  LIVINGSTON,  Traveling  Agent. 
LINCOLN,  NEB. — 1024  "O"  Street,  City  Ticket  Office — -R   W.  McGiNNis,  General  Agent. 
Los  ANGELES,  CAL. — 603  South  Spring  Street — C.  A.  THURSTON,  General  Agent. 
MADISON   Wis. — A.  L.  FISHER,  Traveling  Agent. 
MANKATO,  MINN. — H.  J.  WAGEN,  Traveling  Agent. 
MILWAUKEE.  Wis. — gg  Wisconsin  Street,  City  Ticket  Office — CHARLES  THOMPSON,  General  Agent; 

E.  M.  GULBRANSEN,  City  Passenger  Agent. 
MINNEAPOLIS,  MINN.— 600  Nicollet  Avenue,  City  Ticket  Office — J    A.  O'BRIEN,  General  Agent 

Passenger  Department. 

NEW  YORK  CITY — 461    Broadway — R.  M.  JOHNSON,  General  Agent. 
OMAHA,  NEB. — 1401  and  1403  Farnam  Street,  City  Ticket  Office — GEORGE    F.  WEST,  General 

Agent  Passenger  Department. 

1201  Farnam  Street — S.  F.  MILLER,  General  Freight  and  Passenger  Agent  NEBRASKA 

&  WYOMING  DIVISIONS. 

PEORIA,  ILL. — 333  Main  Street,  City  Ticket  Office — F.  L.  STAYNER,  General  Agent. 
PHILADELPHIA,  PA. — 1020  Chestnut  Street — ORNO  M.  BROWN,  General  Agent. 
PIERRE,  S.  D.- — F.  E.  DONEGAN,  Traveling  Agent. 

PITTSBURG,  PA. — 504  Smithfield  Street — A.  Q.  TALLANT,  General  Agent. 
PORTLAND,  ORE. — 102  Third  Street— R.  V.  HOLDER,  General  Agent. 
ST.  Louis,  Mo. — 311   North  Ninth  Street — GEO.  F.  BRIGHAM,  JR.,  General  Agent. 
ST.  PAUL,  MINN.— 3g6  Robert  Street  (Ryan  Hotel),  City  Ticket  Office — E.  A.  WHITAKER,  City 

Ticket  Agent. 
SALT    LAKE    CITY,  UTAH — 38    West    Second    South    Street    (Atlas    Building) — C.    A.    Walker, 

General  Agent. 
SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL. — 878    Market    Street    (Flood  Building) — R.   R.  RITCHIE,  General  Agent, 

Pacific  Coast. 

SEATTLE,  WASH. —7 20  Second  Avenue — F.  W.  PARKER,  General  Agent 

Sioux  City,  IOWA — Security  Bank  Building,  City  Ticket  Office — M.  M.  BETZNER,  General  Agent. 
SPOKANE,  WASH. — 423  Riverside  Avenue — -H.  S.  COLLINS,  General  Agent. 
SUPERIOR,  Wis. — -815  Tower  Avenue,  City  Ticket  Office — G.  H.  KIRK,  General  Agent. 
TACOMA,  WASH. — Bankers'  Trust  Building — A.  S.  NASH    Traveling  Agent. 
TORONTO,  ONT. — 2  East  King  Street — -B.  H.  BENNETT,  General  Agent. 
WINNIPEG,  MAN.— 205  McDermott  Avenue — GEO.  A.  LEE,  General  Agent. 
WINONA,  MINN. — A.  C.  JOHNSON,  General  Agent. 

W.  B.  KNISKERN,  C.  A.  CAIRNS, 

Passenger  Traffic  Manager.  General  Passenger  and  Ticket  Agent. 

GENERAL  OFFICES:     215  Jackson  Boulevard..  CHICAGO,  ILL. 


A  902-OQ-(XM) 


